


What We Need

by Jadders92



Category: Mortal Engines (2018), Mortal Engines Series - Philip Reeve
Genre: Arkangel - Freeform, Betrayal, Complicated Relationships, Desire, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship, Gen, London, Love, Lust, Needs, Oral Sex, Redemption, Rough Sex, Sex, Slaves, Steampunk, predator - Freeform, traction cities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:46:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23054947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadders92/pseuds/Jadders92
Summary: Thaddeus Valentine only went to confirm a change of direction, but is soon caught up in an affair with the Head of the Guild of Navigators. They both needed something that the other could provide... just as long as it doesn't become something more, everything should be fine.Captain Bethany Wyndham is the best pilot south of Arkangel, an ex-slave and prior to that a Londoner, she got to where she was by chance, much to Crome's dismay, but regardless of the mounting and undeserved pressure, she soon learns of a new and perfectly reasonable way to release some of the built up tension.Hope you enjoy this fic, let me know if you do and remember to leave comments and kudos!!
Relationships: Thaddeus Valentine/Original Character(s), Thaddeus Valentine/Original Female Character(s), Thaddeus Valentine/Reader
Kudos: 13





	1. Impulse

His lips were bruising, his hands were firm, his groans shot through my core and everything I had experienced that day just washed away to the back of my mind. No one, least of all me, would have thought Thaddeus Valentine capable of such intense passion, but here he was in the confines of my private office, pushing me up against my bookshelf and groaning into my mouth, making me crave more of what he was giving. 

I managed to shimmy out of my long green coat, vaguely aware of my badge hitting the floor as it did, suddenly his hands were around my wrists, pinning my hands above me. ‘Don’t move them.’ He growled and dragged his teeth along my bottom lip, forcing a groan from my throat. ‘Shhh, you don’t want everyone to hear us, do you?’ I shook my head, loving the control he had over me, I didn’t need to think, I didn’t need to focus on anything except what he was telling me to do. ‘I want you to stay quiet, keep your hands where they are and show me everything.’

His hands cupped my face and he placed another gloriously bruising kiss to my mouth. His hands drifted down my neck, my chest, they gently squeezed my breasts, making me sigh and throw my head back in pleasure. Valentine smiled against my mouth, his hands venturing to my waist, kneading the soft flesh, forcing my hips up to press against his, I was glad to find I wasn’t the only one enjoying myself.

‘Careful.’ He warned. ‘Patience will get you further than impulse.’

‘I thought impulse got me in this position.’ I shot back and I was satisfied to find he didn’t have a response, beyond smiling his wicked smile and kissing me far too lightly for my liking. I tried so hard to hide my eagerness.

‘That’s better.’ He whispered and once again, his hands travelled from my jaw, down my neck, my chest, he squeezed my breasts a little harder, testing how far he could go, I let out another sigh, wanting more, craving so much more. Valentine smiled as he kissed me again, letting out his own hum of approval and his hands found their way to my hips. My waistcoat had ridden up and I could feel his hands finding the exposed skin and running his fingers over it.

I did everything I could to stay still, but it was difficult when his touch was so light and I wanted more than that. His mouth pulled back just enough that I could feel his lips grazing mine, I didn’t dare move closer in case he stopped unbuttoning my trousers and I couldn’t stand the thought of stopping now he was so close to where I wanted him to be.

Eventually my trousers were loose enough for him to slip his hand down to the hem of my underwear, he paused just enough to make me think he would leave me hanging for the rest of my life, but suddenly, without warning he shed his jacket and waistcoat and pressed another bruising kiss to my mouth. 

‘I need to be inside you.’ He growled and again dragged his teeth over my bottom lip, I tried to hold in the groan, but Valentine held his hand over my mouth to stop me from making any noise at all. ‘Shhh, take your trousers off.’ He commanded and the second he took his hand away I did as I was told. I watched him undo his belt and push down his own trousers, before he went back to kissing me hard against the bookshelf. ‘Put your arms around me.’ Valentine whispered, I did and suddenly felt his hands kneading my hips again.

He didn’t give me any warning, his fingers slid easily between my wet folds and it made us both groan into the kiss. Valentine teased my clit and I knew he would have bruises on his shoulders from how hard I was holding onto him. ‘Fuck.’ I whispered and felt him smirking against my mouth. 

‘Don’t let go.’ He growled and lifted me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and feeling his harden tip nudging me, I wanted him so badly, I was aching for him to just be inside me. Valentine’s hands held onto the backs of my thighs and gently eased me down on him, I let my head fall back, just taking in the full feeling I wasn’t aware I needed so much. For a moment he didn’t move and I risked looking at him, his darkened grey eyes watching me, I wasn’t exactly sure of what he was looking for, but I so desperately wanted him to fuck me against the bookshelf of my office, I wanted him to make me come and I wanted him to do it over and over again.

Valentine kissed me and agonisingly slowly, he slid himself out, before sharply snapping his hips up again. He repeated the motion over and over again, swallowing my moans, though I was sure it wasn’t just my moans he was trying to muffle. I could feel the vibrations in his chest, he was enjoying this just as much as I was. 

He suddenly changed his angle and pulled away from my mouth to watch as he began hitting my sweet spot over and over again. I could feel the pleasure rising, I could feel it with every sharp thrust of his hips. ‘Look at me.’ He growled, his voice more guttural and rougher than I’d ever heard it. I did as I was told, unable to think to do anything else and watched his grey eyes darken even more, as if it were possible. 

Valentine picked up speed and I could tell he was getting off on me reaching my climax. I wanted to hold on for as long as possible, but he wouldn’t let me.

‘Just let go.’ He whispered and before I could stop it, my whole body tightened around him, those grey eyes forcing me to watch him as I came hard, feeling him pounding into me, making the high last even longer, it was almost like watching an adoring lover and soon he was following me over the edge. ‘Beth.’ He groaned into my mouth.

His pace slowly decreased, his thrusts weren’t as erratic and his kisses were softer, more tender as if checking I was okay. 

Eventually our grip on each other loosened and Valentine lowered me back to the ground, my legs were shaky, but he didn’t let me fall, instead he held my hips and for a moment we just breathed with each other. I lowered my eyes to the floor and started to take in what exactly I had done.

Thaddeus Valentine, the Head of the Guild of Historians had come to my office to ask about any changes to the route we were on, apparently he was taking a trip and wanted to know how far north we would be going before he returned. Somehow it had turned into a conversation about how fed up I was at giving out orders and how he wished his team would follow his, the next thing I know, I’m pinned to my bookshelf and we’re fucking against it. I couldn’t deny I’d always appreciated he was handsome and he’d never been unkind to me, we operated on a similar wave length, but it never occurred to me to think of him in a sexual capacity. Katherine Valentine, his own daughter, was one of my closest friends.

I quickly scooped up my trousers and put them back on, without really taking note of what he was doing. I had never been so irresponsible in all my life and I was a bloody pilot! I picked up my coat from the floor and brushed off a little of the dirt, that was when I caught his eye. He was smirking at me, tightening his belt and putting his waistcoat back on.

‘So, no changes to our current course then?’ He confirmed and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him.

‘North, then northwest in three days, Mr Valentine.’ I said and put my coat on, checking myself in the mirror. I was a little flustered, my cheeks were red, my dark hair was a bit of a mess and my lips were swollen, but I was only heading up to the top tier to check on a few of the airships, so hopefully no one would notice. 

‘Beth-‘

‘It’s Bethany,’ I corrected him and turned around, putting my hair up into it’s usual loose bun. ‘Or Miss Wyndham, or Captain.’ I could see his amusement increasing as he took his time to put his own long coat back on, something I hated to admit looked exceptionally good on him. What made me think that now? ‘If that was all you came here for Mr Valentine, I have work to do.’

I didn’t wait for him to reply, instead I took a breath and left the sanctuary of my office and headed up to the top tier. Thankfully I could blame the wind for my reddened cheeks and flustered look. 

The rest of the day went without a hitch, I didn’t think about anything except my job, somehow my mind was clearer and I didn’t feel as stressed as I did that morning. I knew there was an obvious reason for it, but I was trying not to think about that. Trying and failing. Whenever I bent down or leaned over, I felt my back flare with pain, it was from the bookshelf and I wasn’t exactly sure of how I could have missed him slamming my back against the hard wood, though I suppose it wasn’t exactly what I was focussing on at the time.

I could still feel him between my legs and by the time I got back to my office at the end of the day, I was convinced the feeling would never disappear. 

Valentine was incredibly satisfied with himself, he’d always thought Bethany Wyndham was pretty and exceptionally smart, but he always thought she was someone who was far too focussed on her career to find anyone attractive. She was also a good friend of Katherine’s, only a few years older, but you could hardly tell with Katherine’s maturity. 

He’d left Beth’s office with a smile on his face, not that anyone really noticed why, and headed back up to St Paul’s to finish his work for the day. He was looking forward to the day being over so that he could go home and think on his encounter with Beth, he knew he shouldn’t have dwelled too much on what had happened, given her reaction when it was over, but when she looked him in the eyes and gave in to him so willingly, it was easy to think that she may have enjoyed it more than she was letting on.

Valentine had honestly only gone to ask about any drastic changes to London’s current trajectory, but when they had somehow started talking about their days, he couldn’t help but give into desire, his desire for control over something and hers to be controlled for a change. It was the perfect combination and suddenly he realised why it may not be a regular occurrence, they were both in particular mindsets that meant they could both provide something for the other, but that didn’t mean it was anything beyond what it was. A one time solution. 

‘Kate?’ He called from his home office.

‘Yeah.’ His daughter came wandering around the corner. ‘What’s up?’

‘Have you spoken to Bethany Wyndham recently?’ Valentine tried to keep it as casual as he could.

‘Not for a couple of days, she’s been busy with the airship malfunctions. Why?’ Katherine leaned against the doorframe, frowning curiously at her father. 

‘No reason,’ he shook his head, leaning back in his chair. ‘She just seemed a little stressed today when I saw her and I thought you might know if she’s okay?’

‘I think it’s just the malfunctions, dad.’ She shrugged. ‘I can ask her if you like?’

‘No, don’t worry about it. I just thought with the two of you being close, you might have… it doesn’t matter.’ Valentine felt himself faltering and giving himself away a little towards the end, praying that his daughter wouldn’t ask him any awkward questions.

‘Are you sure there isn’t another reason you’re asking me about my very pretty, Head of the Guild of Navigators, completely single and outrageously intelligent friend?’ 

And there it was, Katherine Valentine, one of the most annoyingly observant people in the world had asked him the exact question he did not want to be asked. He felt himself getting awkward and went to turn back to his desk to continue his work without answering the question, but that was apparently an answer in itself.

‘So, are you going to ask her on a date?’ Katherine suddenly had boundless energy and parked herself on another chair beside his desk.

‘No.’ Valentine tried to work, but his focus was gone. 

‘Why not?’

'Because that's not what I was getting at. Besides, she's one of your friends.'

'So?' Katherine shrugged. 'Why should that matter? She's really great and I think you two have more in common than you think... and it's not like you'd be the first person to find her attractive-'

‘Katherine, I was just asking a question, I was concerned for your friend.’ He was only mildly annoyed, but he’d always been good at making it seem like more. ‘I won’t bother next time.’

Valentine went over to his bookshelf and listened to the sounds of his daughter leaving his office, vaguely disappointed. He sighed and picked up the book he needed to continue working, his thoughts wouldn’t stay away from Bethany Wyndham for long though. Valentine replayed the whole thing in his head as he slid underneath the sheets of his bed and made sure he focussed on every detail.


	2. Captain Bethany Wyndham

I was happy to find that Valentine’s airship had disappeared from it’s bay, he would be gone for a few days and I could relax knowing I wouldn’t bump into him for a while. I managed to get on with work and even spent some time repairing my own airship, the Bloody Baron. I’d inherited it from a pirate in Arkangel who had helped free myself and a few other slaves and sent us away, he’d gotten badly injured and told me to take his ship to London and try to be the best pilot I could be. 

I wasn’t exactly keen on the name of his ship, but I didn’t see cause to change it. I did, however, change a few of the features, I added more sophisticated weapons system and made it fit for living in if I was away from London for any period of time. I didn’t leave very often anymore and I hated it, I loved to see things and I loved to see how the world had changed, but the lack of fuel was making it difficult to justify. 

Over the next few days, I worked hard on trying to repair the malfunctions that had spread to almost every airship we had that was connected to the main navigation system. It had been updated with new mapping information, but something had gone wrong and nothing was displaying right. Magnus Crome was furious and I could understand it, but I hated the way he glared at me or tried to put me down in front of other navigators, or people of some importance. 

I wondered if that was one of the main reasons my stress was so high, I didn’t want to give Crome any reason to doubt my ability. I was only the Head of the Guild by chance and by dumb luck, it had very little to do with my actual skill. I knew I was far too young to be anything more than a good pilot, barely twenty-five, but events had occurred that meant I was the most capable of taking over the whole Guild for the last five years. 

People were used to it now, I proved myself capable and they soon got over taking orders from me, I made sure every move I made was thought about in detail and anyone who tried to put me down because of my age, suffered my wrath. I was still learning how to be a good leader, but at least I had the pilots on my side. 

‘What have we got?’ I said, entering the main navigation room.

I must have missed the response, because everyone was staring at me, it took me a moment to realise it and it was only because I’d stopped in my tracks. Valentine. What was he doing here? This was a chase, not some archaeological trip. Why was he frowning at me?

I cleared my throat. ‘Mr Valentine, I didn’t expect to see you up here.’ I said politely. Everyone else in the room got back to work, Valentine, however, had that wicked smirk on his face.

‘Yes, my trip was cut short,’ he explained as I reached the edge of the viewing balcony. ‘Nothing came of it, so we decided to come back and save a little fuel.’ 

‘Something we’re starting to run low on.’ I agreed quietly. ‘So, tell me about this one.’ I said, indicating the small town outside the window.

‘Well, like I said, it’s a small mining town, full of the usual brick and salt.’ Valentine was still smirking at me, I could feel it. ‘There might be some interesting artefacts on it as well.’

‘I’ll try to ingest carefully then.’ I wasn’t in the mood to be smirked at. ‘Run it down.’ I ordered and left the navigation room to hang up my coat and to get a little breathing space. Just the sight of him made my legs feel weaker, I still had a little bruising on my back from the bookshelf and I honestly wasn’t sure I minded all that much. What was wrong with me? 

I headed back just in time to see us gaining on the town, thankfully they hadn’t emptied their silos to give them more speed and we had the chance to take on more fuel. I put my hair back up into a loose bun and watched as Valentine’s cheeks turned a shade of pink. No one else noticed as they were all too busy working on ingesting the town, but I saw it clearly enough.

‘Take the shot.’ I said and watched as the town was captured. There was a small cheer around the room and I joined in briefly, making sure they all knew they’d done a good job, but when I turned back it was to see Valentine’s eyes darken. 

‘I’d best get down there.’ The way his eyes moved subtly, told me he might not have been talking about the gut. I felt the ache between my legs immediately and followed him out.

‘Mr Valentine,’ I called and watched him turn to see me. There were still people wandering around the hallways so I needed to be careful of what I said. ‘Would you come and see me later? I want to clarify the changes to our route before your next trip away.’

‘Of course, Captain Wyndham,’ he smiled. ‘I’ll be back up this afternoon.’

He seemed to take his time before turning sharply and leaving me to stare at his strong stride outside my office. I took a deep breath and headed into my office to start working on the recent malfunctions.

I’d received various reports that the town had been ingested and that we had enough fuel and resources for another week, it wasn’t enough. I leaned back in my chair, stretching my neck and trying to figure out how to make a week’s worth of fuel last longer. 

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, someone was moving hair away from my face. I couldn’t quite bring myself to open my eyes just yet, the touch was so soft and gentle, fingers tracing over my sore head and down my hot cheek, it reminded me of…

My eyes snapped open and in my groggy state, I saw Valentine sitting on the edge of my desk, his eyes dark and that wicked smirk staring down at me in amusement. 

‘I wasn’t sure whether to wake you or not.’ He said and I took a deep breath, trying to wake up. I felt my lower back flare and went to soothe it as I had done over the last few days. ‘You alright?’

I suddenly looked up at him, he looked genuinely concerned and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. 

‘Fine.’ I said and cleared my throat. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘You asked me to come and see you. Said you wanted to clarify changes to our route, though I suspect you want to talk about something a little more… personal, than that.’ I noticed that he lowered his voice to a level that made my cheeks burn. I cleared my throat again and placed my gaze back onto the maps on my desk.

‘Yes,’ I said and stood up, trying to look a little more authoritative, to little effect. ‘I just wanted to say that what happened between us the other day-‘

I never managed to finish the sentence before someone knocked on my door, forcing Valentine and myself to step away from each other, creating a reasonable distance between us. 

‘Captain Wyndham!’ It was Elijah Cuttle, one of the navigators from the main navigation room. ‘Sorry ma’am, but we have located another mining town only eight miles away.’

There was no time to acknowledge anything else, I followed Cuttle out to the navigation room and sure enough, there was a mining town on the monitor. I let my hair down for a moment before putting it back up into a loose bun, I was looking for a telescope to see the town better, but turned to see Valentine with his slightly pink cheeks handing me his personal scope.

‘Thank you, Mr Valentine.’ I nodded politely and took it. 

Staring down the lens gave me enough space from Valentine to concentrate on my job, the mining town looked as if it had a couple of small airships onboard, I relayed the information to Cuttle who sent a small team of navigators down to the gut to ensure the ships were removed with care. 

‘Cuttle.’ I said, handing the scope back to Valentine whose finger brushed mine and sent a welcome warmth through my core. ‘Run it down, they’ll probably head for the foothills, but with the gorge in front of them they’ll never make it.’ I took a breath and headed up the steps to leave. ‘Wait until they turn back to their original course and then take the shot.’

‘Captain.’ Cuttle nodded and began carrying out the order.

‘I’m heading down to the gut to check out those airships.’ I took one last look at the monitor, there was maybe ten minutes before the catch was made. ‘Keep her steady, stay calm and you’ll do fine.’ I encouraged the team and a small wave of confidence washed over them. It wasn’t anything they hadn’t done a hundred times before, but for some reason they were always slightly nervous when I wasn’t around. I went to head back to my office to grab my coat.

‘Captain Wyndham.’ Valentine. ‘I’ll head down with you,’ he said catching up to me. ‘The town looks as if it’s been west, might have picked up some interesting tech.’

‘Well Mr Valentine, you’re always welcome to find out.’ I gave a tight smile, putting my coat on and walked with Valentine to my personal bug. 

‘Captain.’ My driver nodded as we descended the steps of the navigation plaza. 

‘The gut, please Luther.’ I said a little louder, knowing he was hard of hearing due to his age. 

‘Of course.’

Valentine sat close to me in the back seat and I knew it was intentional, regardless of his innocent smirk. 

‘You seem stressed.’ He commented after a long silence. I hadn’t found the courage to look Valentine in the eye yet.

‘I’m always stressed.’ I shot back, still unable to look at him.

‘Maybe you need to find a release.’ His voice was low and I felt my entire body flare with heat. I cleared my throat.

‘Luther, will you turn your hearing device off for a moment?’

‘Of course, captain.’ He said and did exactly that. 

Valentine frowned at me.

‘Luther is a good driver.’ I waved his frown away. I took a breath and thought about the same thing I’d been thinking about over the days he’d been away. ‘What happened between us the other day was highly inappropriate-‘

‘Yes, it was.’

‘-and completely out of character-‘

‘I’ll say.’

‘-and not something I do regularly-‘

‘I can tell.’

‘-and it was very inappropriate.’

‘You’ve already used that excuse.’ 

I looked up at Valentine who was still smirking at me.

‘Did you listen to what I just said?’

‘I heard you giving some weak excuses that don’t justify your intention of-‘

‘Wait, wait, weak excuses?’ I could feel my annoyance rising. ‘We had… what I’m trying to tell you is it can’t happen again, and I don’t want you to think that I’m that type of person.’

‘What type of person?’ He frowned. ‘You mean a person with needs and wants?’ He didn’t wait for a reply. ‘Beth-‘

‘Bethany.’ I corrected him, but he ignored me.

‘-we did what we did because we both needed something. I was getting fed up with people not doing as they were told and you were fed up of micro-managing an entire Guild, we both needed a release and there’s nothing wrong with that.’ His grey eyes looked so sincere. ‘You don’t need to feel ashamed of what we did, we both enjoyed it and you have nothing to be embarrassed about.’ I wasn’t sure what to say and before I knew what to think, his hand had moved close to my thigh, for a moment, I wanted him to have me in the back seat of the bug, but Luther wasn’t that oblivious. ‘We all need a release from time to time,’ his voice penetrated my core the same way it did when he had me up against my bookshelf. ‘We all have wants and needs,’ the tips of his fingers crept closer and closer to my thigh, he was so close, just a little further and I may have found a small release. ‘And desires.’

My eyes flickered up to his, they were so dark, his fingers drifted lightly over my thigh and I felt a heated desire course through my entire body. His lips grazed mine and I was so ready to fall into him once again-

‘Captain Wyndham,’ Luther’s voice cut through everything and brought me back to reality. ‘We have arrived ma’am.’

I suddenly realised I was breathing heavily and barely took a moment to come back to my senses. I stepped out of the car and breathed in the smell of the gut, anything that distracted me from Valentine. 

‘Are you alright, Captain?’ Luther asked. ‘It’s a bit warm down here.’ He must have been referencing my reddened cheeks.

‘I’m fine, Luther.’ I gave a tight smile and adjusted my long coat. ‘I won’t be too long.’ I looked to the other side of the bug where Valentine once again watched me with that wicked smirk. It was growing on me.

The town was ingested, Valentine and I waited close to the bins in silence as the new arrivals stepped through the gates of London and all I could think about was what nearly happened in the back of my bug.

Valentine knew he’d gotten to her, he didn’t force anything, merely suggested that he wanted to kiss her and she hadn’t refused. He was very willing to bet that if Luther hadn’t have interrupted them, she would have allowed him to fuck her senseless in the back seat of her bug. It was an image he wanted to make reality, he wanted to feel her wrapped around him and groaning with every deep thrust.

‘Bethany!’ Katherine. 

Valentine was well used to snapping his thoughts from one thing to another, he looked up to see Katherine and Beth embracing like old friends while he began routing through some of the bins, and for a while Beth had completely forgotten him. They talked and laughed about things that Valentine couldn’t hear and it was nice to see Beth smile, she rarely had cause to, but he was glad that Katherine was one of the reasons she was happier.

Katherine did a brief double take and caught Valentine’s eye, as any daughter would, she bounded over to her father and hugged him tightly. 

‘Dad.’ 

‘Kate.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘What are you doing down here?’

‘I heard there were airships and thought I’d come to see Bethany.’ She smiled and Valentine’s eye was drawn to where Beth was striding away from him. ‘What are you doing down here?’

Valentine smiled continued searching through the bins. ‘The town came from the west, I’m just here to see if it picked up anything interesting.’ 

Katherine was quiet for a moment and Valentine knew that she was watching him. ‘Bethany says the malfunctions are almost fixed.’ Valentine didn’t respond. ‘Means she won’t be as stressed anymore.’

‘I doubt that. Crome was furious that the malfunction happened in the first place, I’m sure he’ll make her aware of his disappointment.’ Valentine couldn’t find anything of worth and so moved onto the next bin. 

He spent the better part of an hour looking for any old tech, Katherine had eventually left him to it, but it was only when he heard shouting that he realised Beth was still in the gut. Valentine made his way towards the shouting to find Beth in the middle of some kind of argument between her navigators and some of the new arrivals.

‘Alright, alright, everyone just stand down.’ She took command like a pro and even he was in awe of the power of her words. ‘Bennet, Heaton, weapons down.’ She ordered and they did as they were told. She then turned to the townspeople. ‘These are your ships?’

‘They belong to us!’ One of them shouted, he was a burly looking man who looked as if he could easily win in a hand to hand fight and suddenly Valentine was wary. He took a step forward, making Beth aware of his presence. 

‘No one is trying to take them from you.’ She said, ignoring Valentine completely. ‘Now I understand that you feel as though we are stealing something which clearly means a lot to you, but this is London, we would never presume to know more about these machines than you, so let me make you an offer,’ the crowd began to cool. ‘My Guild can always use more pilots and we welcome those who have knowledge of airships such as yours. Let me help you build a new life here, I won’t take your ships away from you and I’ll even provide a docking station. We’ll upgrade your ships, make them better than ever and more capable than you ever thought possible. All I ask is that you pledge yourself to London.’ The town’s pilots thought for a moment, before the burly man shifted, indicating his agreement. Beth nodded and stepped forward. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Keeler.’ He answered a little miserably. ‘Royden Keeler.’

‘Well, Royden Keeler,’ Beth extended her hand. ‘Welcome to the Guild of Navigators.’

Keeler took it and the entire mood of the gut changed to something much more agreeable. Beth nodded for Bennet and Heaton to allow the pilots to help with the airships.

‘And what about you?’ Keeler suddenly asked as Beth wandered close to Valentine. ‘What do we call you?’

She turned back and with a small smirk. ‘Captain Bethany Wyndham.’

Valentine was a little surprised to hear a sudden murmur of awe and excitement wash over the new pilots, apparently that name meant something to them and Valentine found himself wondering more and more about Beth and her past. 

She didn’t give Valentine another glance, instead she went straight to her bug, nodding for Luther to take her back up to her office and leaving Valentine to find his own way back. He decided instead to ask the obvious question.

‘Mr Keeler.’ Valentine called and the burly young man turned to wander over to him. ‘I see you’re familiar with the Head of the Guild of Navigators? How do you know her?’

‘Well every pilot south of Arkangel knows her, Mr…?’

‘Valentine. Thaddeus Valentine, Head of the Guild of Historians.’ Valentine extended his hand and shook with Keeler.

‘Well Mr Valentine, like I said, every pilot in the world knows her ship, the Bloody Baron.’ There was a flash of excitement in his eyes. ‘Most of the stories are just rumours, but the whole of Arkangel can’t be lying when they say they saw her taking down half of the city’s guns before escaping back to London.’

‘Back to London?’

‘Yeah, she was taken from here when she was just four years old, sold as a slave and forced to work as a crewman on the air base, which if you’re a slave in Arkangel, you know it’s the worst place to work.’ Keeler said it as if Valentine should have known what he was talking about, but instead Valentine stared a hole into the man, seeing that quiver of fear trickle over him. ‘The air base is on the top tier of the city, where it’s coldest and during the ice storms, pilots find it hard to dock. The base has the biggest turn over of slaves in the whole city.’ Keeler swallowed. ‘I would’ve thought you knew that, given your position?’

‘Captain Wyndham is a very private individual.’ Valentine told Keeler, an indication that the conversation was over.

Valentine spent the rest of the day thinking on the new information he possessed about Beth, he now understood why Crome was so hard on her and why she never let anyone get too close to her. He decided to risk approaching Katherine again.

‘Did you know she was a slave?’ He asked, leaning on the doorframe of his library where Katherine was sitting reading. She frowned at him. ‘There was an incident in the gut today,’ Valentine wandered a little further into the room and leaned back onto the far desk opposite his daughter. ‘Some of the pilots were a little less than pleased about their airships being taken away, so Bethany offered them a place within the Guild to satisfy both our needs and theirs. It seemed they all knew her name.’ Valentine thought on Keeler’s words. ‘Apparently she was taken from London when she was four and sold as a slave in Arkangel, forced to work on the airbase there.’

‘I knew she used to work on an airbase,’ Katherine turned her attention to her father. ‘But I didn’t know she used to be a slave, much less in Arkangel. That must have been torture.’ 

Valentine could see his daughter’s sadness and immediately felt guilty that he even mentioned it. 

‘Come here.’ He said and brought Katherine into a hug, he sighed against his daughter. ‘The airbase on Arkangel has the biggest turnover of slaves in the world, it’s the most dangerous place for them and Beth survived.’ He pulled back and tried to make his daughter see the brighter side. ‘Not only did she survive, but according to the pilots, she took out as much of the city as she could and escaped in the best ship they had.’

‘Yeah,’ Katherine’s eyes were watering a little. ‘She’s not where she is for no reason.’

‘Exactly.’ Valentine smiled.

‘She hates being called Beth though.’

‘I noticed.’ Valentine stood up properly and sighed. ‘I best get back to work. I just wasn’t sure if you knew.’

‘Thanks for telling me.’ Katherine smiled, but it pained him to see him daughter so upset. 

Valentine let her get on with her reading and left her in peace for the rest of the evening while he allowed his mind, once again, to turn to thoughts of Beth.


	3. The Arrangement

It had been two difficult weeks, the malfunctions were just about fixed, but with the addition of the three airships from the small mining town, Crome had every reason to be angry at the delay in fixing the small air force. 

He’d made his anger clear at a meeting between the Heads of the Guilds and a few senior ranking members, he was trying to humiliate me in front of the older men in the room and discourage me into resigning as Head of the Guild, it seemed to be his only objective in recent times and the only thing that stopped him was that I still had the support of the people.

‘My team are working to get the mapping system fixed,’ I reasoned. ‘We have even delayed major upgrades to our current ships in order to focus on the malfunction.’

‘And yet, it’s still not fixed.’ Crome dismissed me.

‘If I might interrupt,’ Valentine stood and I could feel myself giving him a warning look, one that seemed to have almost no effect on him at all. ‘Given the complexity of the malfunction it could have been a lot worse.’

‘Excuse me?’ Crome was just as shocked as I was that Valentine was standing up for me. 

‘The mapping system doesn’t just effect the ships, but the entire navigation of London and the air dock. I believe Captain Wyndham’s job wasn’t just to fix the problem, but to also keep it contained, stop it from spreading to the merchant routes and our own mapping records. I’m sure if you ask Mr Brewer, he will confirm that his trade has gone undisturbed since the malfunction was first brought to our attention.’

Valentine gestured to the much older Head of the Guild of Merchants, Brewer was well over sixty years old and often had little say in these meetings, but on occasion he would speak up and add some idle comment about trade routes.

‘Trade is good, yes.’ Brewer nodded and went back to scanning through a list of numbers in front of him. 

‘On top of that Captain Wyndham has also brought an additional three ships, one of which she had generously donated to the Merchants and two which will provide London with extra protection against the Anti-Tractionists. I’m surprised she has managed to fix any problem with her limited resources in quite so short a time frame.’ Valentine finished his argument and Crome just watched him, assessing him for a moment. 

‘You have two days to fix the problem, Miss Wyndham.’ Crome didn’t even look at me, he kept his gaze on Valentine who wasn’t in the least bit intimidated by him. ‘If it hasn’t been dealt with by then, the engineers will take over and fix it ourselves.’

Crome gathered up his papers, indicating the meeting was over. I picked up my maps and strode out of the long meeting room without giving Valentine a second glance. I could have gotten away with it as well, had his legs not been so long, making it easy for him to catch up to me.

‘Captain Wyndham.’ He called down the corridor, there were enough people around that I couldn’t just walk away ignoring him, so I turned back to see him confidently striding towards me. ‘You’re heading up to the top tier?’

‘To my office actually.’ I corrected him as we strode towards my bug. ‘I need to make sure I can meet my new deadline the Lord Mayor has so kindly extended.’ I didn’t bother hiding the sarcasm in my voice and it made Valentine half laugh.

‘No, two days isn’t very long at all,’ he casually commented as we reached the door to my bug. ‘Which is why I’d like to help you.’ I turned sharply in warning, but his hands came up to indicate his innocence. ‘I’m not suggesting anything else, I promise you. I’ve seen the plans for your solution and I think I can help speed things along.’

Luther came into view, but quickly made himself scarce again when he saw the tension between Valentine and myself. 

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Why would you help me?’

It was that sincere look again, the one I couldn’t understand. Valentine took a small step towards me, he wasn’t quite in my space, but his voice was low enough that he may as well have been. ‘Because this is clearly something that has caused you a lot of stress and I don’t want you making any other decisions you might regret.’

I felt my eyes narrow in suspicion. ‘You mean you don’t want me finding someone else to make regrettable decisions with.’

Valentine smirked his wicked smirk again. ‘Well, you can’t blame a man for wanting what he wants.’

‘It won’t happen again, Mr Valentine.’ I said, making sure he understood where I stood on the subject. ‘But I will accept your help with the malfunction plans.’

‘Understood.’ Valentine nodded, I still wasn’t sure he actually believed me, but he didn’t show it. 

We spent the next two days solid going over the plans and ensuring that we got to the route cause. We went over it again and again, but nothing else made any kind of sense and so we agreed to adjust the plans accordingly. 

It was a strange time to spend with Valentine, he didn’t try to initiate anything, he didn’t even intrude on my personal space with any ulterior motive, and the only time we ever got close was when we were either staring at the plans pinned up on the board in my office, or when we were testing out our theories and handing equipment or tools to each other. 

I could have gotten used to working with Valentine in that capacity, he was actually a very charming individual and surprisingly funny man. We didn’t share too many laughs, but when we did, it was exactly what I needed to clear some of the stress from my mind.

‘I think this is it.’ Valentine called from underneath one of the ships. I crouched down to see him holding one of the wires. ‘We may need to upload the new maps from down here, the wire isn’t connected to the internal compass either.’

‘What do you mean?’ I frowned.

Valentine pushed himself out from underneath the airship and sat up to explain.

‘Beth, this might be a bigger job than we first thought,’ Valentine said and his grey eyes told me everything I needed to know. ‘The wires on all three ships look like they’ve been tampered with intentionally.’

I felt my rage flare, there was a traitor within London. Valentine and I went straight to Crome and for a while we put our differences aside and I was charged with rooting out the traitor.

‘It sounds to me as if they knew what they were doing,’ Crome explained. ‘It seems the logical place to start looking is within your Guild.’ I felt my hatred only grow at his words.

‘Yes, sir. I’ll find them.’ I said through gritted teeth and strode out of the Lord Mayor’s office and didn’t stop until I reached my own. 

I hadn’t realised that Valentine had followed me until I let my rage out on the board in my office, throwing it across the room and yelling in frustration, that’s when I heard the door close and Valentine’s hand came to touch my shoulder.

‘It’s okay, we’ll get them sooner or later.’ Valentine tried to comfort me, but truthfully there was only one thing on my mind.

I turned to face him and in a split second his lips were crashing against mine, it was bruising and passionate and I felt my entire body sink into his. His hands hooked under my legs and lifted me onto my desk, that familiar flare of heat flashing over my entire body. 

‘Tell me what you want.’ He growled and dragged his teeth over my bottom lip, forcing a groan out of my throat. ‘Tell me.’ He commanded.

‘I want you fuck me, Thaddeus.’ I breathed and he didn’t hesitate for a second, he kissed me hard, his hand holding my head in place as he began moving from my mouth to my jaw to my neck, sucking and biting at the skin, making me arch back to give him better access to my chest.

I held his shoulder for support as his mouth drifted over the top of my breasts, I couldn’t remember when my shirt had come open, but I didn’t care, his mouth was working so gloriously against my skin, I let out a groan of pleasure and suddenly his mouth was on mine, swallowing any noise I made.

‘You know the rules.’ He growled. ‘Stay quiet and do as I say.’ He gently kissed me and pushed his hips against me so I could feel what was coming. ‘Can you do that?’

‘Yes.’ I breathed.

‘Good.’ He whispered and with such softness, kissed me again. I wondered briefly why he was being so considerate, but soon his mouth moved back to my neck, gently sucking at the skin and making my body weaken around him, it was the beard that had me really losing control, it sent shivers up and down my spine and made me crave him. Valentine quickly removed my trousers, circling his tongue around my nipples and I couldn’t stop the moan. His hand clamped over my mouth and he stopped everything. ‘Shh,’ his eyes were almost black. ‘I told you to stay quiet.’ His voice was dangerously low. ‘I want you to lie down and hold the edge of the desk.’ He carefully removed his hand and gave me a chaste kiss, it was nowhere near enough. ‘Can you do that for me?’

‘Yes.’ I breathed once again and did as I was told. 

I lay back and lifted my hands above my head so that I was on full display to him, somehow not feeling as exposed as I thought I would. Valentine unbuttoned his shirt and once again, I wasn’t sure when he’d removed his trousers, but soon he was pulling my hips towards his and I could feel him nudging my centre. He ran the tip through my folds and I couldn’t help but arch my back in response. 

Valentine lowered his body over mine, his soft chest hair drifted over my sensitive nipples and before I could let out any noise, his mouth was on mine as he eased himself inside me. Once again, he paused for a moment, just absorbing the feeling and I couldn’t deny I needed the time to adjust to him as well.

Without any warning Valentine lifted his head to watch me as his hips pulled out, before snapping back in one fluid thrust, he continued the motion over and over again at an agonisingly slow pace. I let myself be taken over by him, one of his hands held the back of my thigh, forcing me to wrap it around his waist, his fingers drifting closer and closer to the curve of my arse. His other hand soon came to knead the flesh of my breast and once again I let out an audible sigh.

‘Shhh.’ He whispered into my neck. I bit down hard on my lip, feeling his beard scratching skin he’d already made sensitive with his mouth. Once he was satisfied that I wouldn’t make any more noise, Valentine increased his pace, thrusting deeper inside me, filling me up and muffling his own groans against my neck.

‘Come for me, Beth.’ He traced his mouth up to my lips, tasting the blood. Valentine slowed his movement and frowned at my lip in concern, brushing his thumb over it, it stung when he touched the open wound, but soon he was staring a hole into me and increasing his thrusts again, moving deeper and deeper into me. I couldn’t take my eyes away from his and soon he was following me over the edge. ‘That’s it, let go for me.’ He whispered and all I could do was give him what he wanted. ‘Beth.’ He kissed me, gently. Again, like an attentive lover, like someone who cared for my well-being.

Valentine took his time to let her come down, he hadn’t realised how much he missed being with her, how much he craved her soft skin and perfectly shaped body. Everything about her fit with him, everything about her made him crave more and if he could give her some kind of release in return then that was exactly what he would do. 

He knew as soon as they both came back to reality she would go through the motions of guilt and regret and embarrassment all over again. Valentine tried to think about how he could avoid that, but the blood was still rushing back to his brain. They dressed in silence and Valentine couldn’t help but smile at her, even though she rolled her bold emerald eyes every chance she got. 

‘Are you going to tell me you’ve got work to do again?’ He finally asked, buttoning up his waistcoat and watching her put her hair up in a loose bun. He loved it when she did that and exposed her strong, slender neck to him, it made him think about dragging his tongue over the skin and listening to that sigh of pleasure over and over again. 

‘I _do _have work to do.’ She shot back. ‘I have to find out who’s been tampering with the airships.’__

__‘You mean ‘we’?’_ _

__‘What?’_ _

__‘I’m sure you meant to say, ‘we need to find out whose been tampering with the airships.’’ Valentine made the final adjustments to his clothes and slicked his hair back into place. ‘I said, I would help you and I have every intention of doing just that.’_ _

__Beth didn’t say anything she just began putting her things back in their rightful place and Valentine sensed she was thinking hard on what they had just done. He decided to help her for a while and every so often he gave her a small smile._ _

__‘I was frustrated,’ she finally said, looking at her board. ‘And stressed.’ Valentine stood behind her, close enough that he could touch her and he desperately wanted to. ‘I just wanted to…’_ _

__‘To feel anything else.’ Valentine finished the sentence and she nodded. ‘I told you there’s nothing wrong with that, especially not if there’s someone willing to give you want you need.’_ _

__Beth turned to face him and frowned. ‘Why are you so okay with this?’_ _

__Valentine sighed and dropped the papers he was holding on her desk. ‘Honestly, I don’t know.’ He closed the gap between them, knowing that if she moved even just a little, then their lips would graze each other. ‘But I know that I enjoy being with you, I think about it a lot, maybe too much.’ At least that made her half laugh. ‘I understand you get stressed, it’s a hard job you’ve got and with Crome using your age and background against you any chance he gets, I’m not surprised you need a little relief sometimes.’ Her cheeks flooded with that gorgeous shade of pink he enjoyed so much. Valentine brushed away the stray hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear._ _

__‘You know that I used to be a slave?’ Valentine nodded, feeling a whip of sadness in his chest. ‘I take it you heard that from Mr Keeler then, I had a feeling that would come out eventually.’_ _

__‘In my experience, secrets don’t stay secret for long.’ Valentine didn’t take his hand away from her cheek, she didn’t seem to mind his thumb stroking her skin. ‘Might I suggest allowing the public to find out about your past? You can make it work in your interest and secure your position as Head of the Guild and a valued public figure.’_ _

__‘How?’_ _

__‘Well, you were born here, you’re more of a Londoner than most, taken from your home and sold into slavery, fighting your way back, surviving some of the worst conditions imaginable. All of it to return to the place you call home. No one has to know the details, but that in itself is a very good story and one that will have London routing for you.’ Valentine explained and watched her think about it. ‘Crome will find it very difficult to remove you if you have the people’s full and sympathetic support.’_ _

__‘Is that how you do it?’ It was a simple enough question, but one Valentine wasn’t exactly comfortable with. ‘I mean because you’re an outsider, you came here from another place and the people love you. Is that why Crome made you Head?’_ _

__Valentine sighed and decided for the first time in his life that he could be truly honest with someone. ‘I think it helps, yes.’_ _

__‘Okay.’ She nodded and for a moment her eyes darkened and flickered to his lips, before she turned away._ _

__‘Beth.’ Valentine gently took her hand to stop her. ‘This is okay, you know that, don’t you? You’re allowed to want this from me.’_ _

__‘I feel like I’m…’ she sighed and couldn’t finish the sentence. Valentine didn’t stop her from wandering over to the window that looked out at the vast wasteland._ _

__‘Like you’re what?’_ _

__‘Like I’m losing control over my life.’ Beth’s head hung low and Valentine felt for her. ‘I feel like this pressure keeps building up and I just need to get it out any way I can.’_ _

__He could understand that. ‘Then might I make a bold suggestion?’ Her head turned just a little toward him. ‘Don’t resist this.’ She turned her whole body towards him. ‘Beth, you don’t need to feel like you’re losing control over your life, we all feel like that from time to time, sex is a safe way to find relief from all of this and I’m more than happy to help you find it if you’re happy to help me.’_ _

__She thought about it for a moment and he could see the pros and cons playing out in her head._ _

__‘What about Katherine?’ She asked._ _

__‘I’d rather she wasn’t a part of the agreement to be honest.’ Valentine joked, making Beth laugh at her phrasing. ‘Katherine doesn’t need to know if you don’t want her to, but she is very mature and can handle it. It’s up to you.’_ _

__‘Okay.’ She nodded and eventually agreed to his proposal._ _

__He wasn’t sure how it would work, but he knew that she wasn’t nearly as stressed over the next few days, he knew that she was focussed on finding the traitor and he was doing everything he could help her, but there were other concerns rising. London was running low on fuel and food, if they didn’t ingest a town soon, they would completely run out._ _


	4. One Chance

I felt rage flood my entire being, my fists were clenched by my sides, but nothing else was taking my attention. Valentine had been talking to me about a recent artefact he’d got from a catch, but even the sound of his voice couldn’t pull me away from the sight of Cyrus Walstrand. 

He was a man twice my size, muscular and a hard man to bet against in a fight. He could hide well in a crowd, even with his sharp blue eyes and orange hair and if I hadn’t been looking at every face that walked past me, I wouldn’t have noticed him. 

It was Valentine touching my arm and presumable asking if I was alright that had me snapping out of my trance and letting my rage get the better of me. I sprinted hard, pushing past the clusters of people in the marketplace, unfortunately that was what alerted Cyrus to my presence and suddenly it was a chase.

I had the advantage, I knew London better than any outsider and managed to finally cut him off at one of the waste shafts.

‘No where to go Cyrus.’ I panted, trying hard to get my breath back, knowing that Cyrus would rather this end in a fight than be taken into custody. ‘What are you going to do?’

I heard Valentine catching up to us and I held my hand up to stop him doing anything stupid.

‘You cut the wires, didn’t you?’ I took a steady step towards him, the edge of the platform was a hundred foot drop into nothingness, no one would survive it. ‘Why? Why did you cut the wires? To stop us scouting? To starve London?’

‘Don’t pretend you don’t know.’ Cyrus’s voice was deep and menacing at the best of times, but it wasn’t often I was intimidated by him. 

‘Cyrus, you have a chance to get out of this,’ I took another careful step towards him, making him nervous. ‘Okay, this is me, giving you one chance to walk away… but you have to tell me why you cut our navigations. What was the point? You must have known we’d catch you, so why go to the trouble?’

‘Because you are a coward!’ He roared. ‘You left us in that place, you left us to die!’

I suddenly realised what this was really about.

‘Alright,’ I took one more step towards him, he was just within reach. ‘Let me ask you this… did Anna send you or are you doing this of your accord?’ His eyes flooded with fear for just a moment. ‘I see.’ I nodded and pulled out a notepad and pen. ‘She’ll not believe you unless you’ve got evidence so I’m going to write a message for you to take back. Okay?’ Cyrus just frowned as I scribbled the note. ‘Look, we both know that I like Anna and I like you, all that time we spent on Arkangel, looking after each other, making sure we all survived the long nights, it doesn’t mean nothing to me. I’m not heartless, Cyrus.’ I could see his expression softening. ‘We all knew that I’d make it back to London one day and we all knew you and Anna would go back to the Anti-Tractionists, we made a promise, you remember?’

Cyrus deflated in relief and I took one final step towards him. ‘I remember.’

‘Good.’ I smiled and folded the note, handing it over to Cyrus and pocketing the pen. ‘So, you were trying to stop us scouting ahead? Starving us of fuel?’

‘And trade.’ Cyrus placed the note in his breast pocket, keeping it secure. ‘Without the airships, you can’t find reliable towns to trade with.’

I nodded. ‘Clever. I’m actually impressed, was that Anna’s idea?’

‘Khora and Sathya’s, they figured it was the best way to starve London of resources without killing too many people within the city.’

I nodded again. ‘Okay, I understand.’ Cyrus looked as though he was about to walk past me, but not before I could take my small knife out and drive it up through his ribcage and into his heart. Blood came pouring from his mouth, I held the lapel of his jacket, keeping him in place for just a little longer. ‘I kept my promise,’ I whispered. ‘I gave you your chance to walk away and you called me a coward… we’re not on Arkangel anymore. That promise was the only thing protecting you and you chose to die.’ 

I withdrew the dagger and took half a step back, his whole body slumped and with one small push, he fell down the shaft and into the nothingness. Chances were Anna wasn’t far behind and once she saw what had happened, my message would be heard loud and clear.

I turned to see Valentine, almost forgetting he was there. I wasn’t exactly sure of how to explain myself, but I knew I would need to deal with him as well, that was until he said something entirely unexpected.

‘You’ve got blood on your shirt,’ he said and approached me. ‘You should cut your arm, make it look like he put up a struggle and you had no choice.’ 

I didn’t have time to think, we could hear the sounds of the authorities catching up to us, I quickly cut my forearm, feeling it sting more than I counted on and Valentine took the dagger, concealing it in his belt. He gave me a look of warning that I was only partly sure I understood.

The police and the medics turned up everything began to speed up, I lost track of what was going on, but Valentine was with me the whole time, even when Crome came to the medical bay to scold me for letting the traitor get away.

‘No one could survive that drop,’ I reasoned, still feeling a little dizzy. ‘He probably thought he could and took a chance.’

‘And with his ribs broken, he probably died on impact.’ Valentine offered and Crome frowned at him. ‘I witnessed Captain Wyndham struggling with the intruder, I have to admit she got in a few good shots before he caught her with his knife.’

‘Really?’ Crome seemed slightly less angry and looked over to me.

‘Anyone else would have done the same.’ I shrugged nonchalantly. 

‘Indeed. Speaking of which, Mr Valentine, what were you doing during this ordeal?’

‘I did my best to help, but I’m afraid, one hit to my chest and I was pretty useless.’ Valentine charmed and unsurprisingly it worked in getting Crome to relax a little.

‘Very well.’ He nodded. ‘Make sure you’re seen to.’ 

Valentine nodded and one of the medics led him away to check is non-existent injury, while Crome turned back to me.

‘It seems I’ve underestimated you, Miss Wyndham,’ he said and I couldn’t help but be a little surprised. ‘You’ve proven yourself to be a capable navigator and London thanks you for your service.’ 

With that he walked away and I was left feeling like it was much less of a compliment than a satisfactory comment about my skills, something to offer because he couldn’t find fault in what I had done. I just rolled my eyes and allowed the bandage to be placed over the cut on my arm.

Valentine was striding over to me, we had a lot to talk about, but it looked to be cut short when Katherine turned up in the medical bay.

‘Oh my God, are you okay?’ She asked and looked at my arm with concern.

‘I’m alright, Kate, I’m fine.’ I said and let her hug me, more to settle her fears than comfort me, but I didn’t mind that. ‘I’m really okay.’

‘I heard what happened,’ she said and pulled back. ‘That you fought off that man, everyone was saying he was twice the size of you.’

‘Probably bigger in my opinion.’ Valentine smiled and Katherine embraced her father as well. 

‘You were there?’ She asked, now even more worried. ‘Are you okay? Did someone check you out?’

‘Kate, we’re both fine.’ Valentine calmed his daughter down. ‘Captain Wyndham did everything she could to secure the intruder, but he was just a little too strong for the both of us.’

Katherine was only slightly consoled and insisted that I came around for dinner that night, something Valentine also encouraged; I had a very bad feeling about it, but it seemed I had no choice, Katherine could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

‘Right, well I best get back to work.’ I said as we left the medical bay.

‘As should I.’ Valentine agreed.

‘Alright, well you both make sure you take it easy.’ Katherine said as we got outside to where Luther and Pewsey were waiting for us. ‘And I’ll see you tonight for dinner, don’t be late.’

‘I’ll try not to be.’ I half laughed and hugged Katherine once again. 

‘Try not to work too late either, you both need to rest once in a while.’ She hugged her father as well and soon the two of us were left with a precious few seconds to talk before we reached our bugs.

‘We’ll talk after dinner, somewhere no one will hear us.’ Valentine whispered.

‘The Bloody Baron.’ I suggested and caught a glimpse of him nodding subtly before we both got into our bugs and drove back to work.

I was not looking forward to dinner in the slightest, work was tough and boring and constant, but the bombardment of nervousness was what was getting to me. I didn’t know what it was I was supposed to do other than turn up and pretend like everything was fine, I couldn’t tell Katherine what had really happened and I couldn’t tell if Valentine was angry about it or not.

I didn’t see him over the entire day, even when we found another town to ingest. There were more thorough checks at the new arrivals gate in case another intruder got through, but no one found anything and it wasn’t likely that they would. Anna wouldn’t try again so soon to sneak someone aboard London. 

Valentine kept a careful eye on her throughout dinner, trying to catch any glimpse he could of anything that may have been suspicious. He was a patient man and could wait for her to explain herself, but it didn’t stop him thinking on all the possibilities that Bethany Wyndham may not have been the woman he thought she was. 

Katherine kept the spirits high and they both did their bit in entertaining her, but even she could tell there was something amiss. Beth managed to ease the tension better than he could and it was for the best, if he continued to deny while she sat silent, Katherine would definitely suspect that something was going on between them.

‘So, I guess the ships will be ready for use soon then?’ Katherine poured the last of the wine between herself and Beth, and Valentine was highly amused at Beth’s slight eye roll. She’d already had two glasses and wasn’t known for drinking a lot. 

‘Yes,’ Beth sighed and took a sip. ‘Now that we know what the problem is and how many ships were effected, it’ll be a breeze to get them fixed.’ 

‘Well, that’s good, means you won’t be as stressed anymore.’ 

Her slight blush and glance at Valentine was unmistakeable to him, but thankfully Katherine had turned away in time to miss it. 

‘Hopefully.’ She nodded and quickly Katherine changed the subject again. 

Eventually Katherine began clearing away the dishes and Valentine automatically got up to help, with Beth finding she definitely had one too many glasses of wine to be thinking straight.

‘Perhaps I should walk you home?’ Valentine said, amused, he wasn’t exactly sober himself, but watching her stand and try to find her balance was something that had him chuckling with Katherine.

‘I think that’s probably a good idea.’ Her cheeks were a little red and Valentine felt an unnatural urge to kiss them. He needed to stay focussed though, they still needed to talk about what happened that day.

Valentine helped her into her coat and caught Katherine winking at him from the kitchen, she would be a sleep minutes after he left, but it didn’t stop him telling her he would be back soon.

As soon as they both got out into the fresh night air, he felt a little better and apparently so did Beth. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as they made their way quietly up to the Bloody Baron.

It was a gorgeous airship, sleek, streamlined, steel blue-grey armour, a neat cockpit with a weapons system surrounding it and what looked to be living quarters at the far end of the ship. When he got inside, it was clear Beth was very comfortable spending her time here, she wandered through to what looked to be a bedroom that doubled as a studio apartment. Valentine could see how easy it would be for her to live out her days on this ship and briefly wondered why she didn’t.

He followed her through to her bedroom and they both shed their coats, getting comfortable. Valentine sat on the edge of the comfy bed and waited for her to speak.

‘You know I was a slave in Arkangel.’ She started. ‘You know that I worked on the airbase and you know that I did that for thirteen years before I escaped.’ She turned to face him and Valentine felt for her, realising that this wasn’t an easy memory for her to think about. ‘It doesn’t take a genius to realise that I wasn’t the only slave who lasted a good few years up there, but people don’t often like to think about how we survived so long.’ She swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘There were maybe twenty of us who stuck together, knowing that we wouldn’t get through the long nights without each other. Anna Fang was my best friend and we did everything we could to ensure we got through each day, she’s the only reason I survived as long as I did… but neither of us were stupid, she knew I had to get back to London and I knew she would join with the Anti-Tractionist League. For the time that we were slaves, we had no choice but to put our differences aside and work together, but we did so with a promise that even though we needed each other to survive Arkangel, the real world meant that we would sit on opposing sides, we swore that if the day came where we got in each other’s way, we would offer one chance to step aside freely, just one chance and if we refused then we agreed that we would have no other choice.’ 

Valentine watched her, almost in awe, she was suddenly the most loyal Londoner he’d ever seen in his life.

‘Twenty of us made that promise,’ she continued. ‘I don’t know what happened to most of them, but I intend to keep my promise. I gave Cyrus his chance and he didn’t take it.’ There was a genuine sorrow to her words. ‘He was always the strongest and helped me lift things when I was too small to do it on my own, I could have died on that airbase if it weren’t for him.’

‘You didn’t have a choice.’ Valentine finally spoke up and approached Beth.

‘No.’ She breathed. ‘I didn’t… but it doesn’t mean I feel good about killing him. I never wanted to be put in this position, but I believe in London and I believe that my home is worth defending. Anna knows this and now she knows how far I will go to protect what is mine.’

Valentine frowned. ‘What was in the note? The one you gave to Cyrus?’

‘I told Anna that I was sorry, but he got in the way. I gave him his chance and he didn’t take it. I told her that this is a game of survival and one I don’t plan on losing so easily.’ 

Valentine knew at that moment that she had just been more honest with him than she had ever been in her life with anyone. 

‘Why did you cover for me?’

Valentine took a deep breath and half smiled. ‘Because I believe in the same thing.’ He admitted. ‘I think you and I together will take London to new heights, I think you’re very strong for keeping with your promise, most people I know wouldn’t have such a strong desire to survive, they would show weakness and you never did.’ He gently stroked her cheek and allowed her a moment to absorb the touch. ‘I want to show you something, the energy project I’m working on. It will be London’s best chance at surviving starvation and I want you to be a part of that.’

Beth frowned for a moment, her eyes found his and he could have watched her bright emerald orbs scan his face all day. ‘You’ve done this before? You’ve killed to survive?’

‘Haven’t we all?’

She half laughed and looked away. ‘Yeah… the great game of survival, we do what we need to.’

‘Exactly.’ Valentine let his thumb drift over her jaw and a little down her neck. ‘Now, do I get to kiss you yet?’

Beth’s eyes snapped up to his, widening slightly, but they flickered to his mouth and her breathing grew heavier. She was giving him every indication that kissing her was okay. Valentine slowly dragged his lips over hers and felt her whole body responding to his touch. That hot feeling shot through his heart, his stomach, his hips and throughout his limbs, he craved her moans, he wanted her to want him.

She suddenly stopped him from going any further. ‘We can’t do this here.’ She whispered. ‘Patrols walk past all night, they’ll hear us.’

‘I’m sure I can find a way to keep you quiet.’ He grinned, kissing her softly again. Valentine brought his other hand up to cup her face, letting her absorb the touch, but again she stopped.

‘I’m not sure I…’ 

Valentine wasn’t stupid, he knew what the end of the sentence was, but he wasn’t going to force her to do anything if she didn’t want to. 

‘Okay,’ he whispered. ‘We don’t have to do anything tonight.’ He placed a light kiss against her lips and went to step away, but her hands came up to his forearms, making him stop and wait for her to say something.

‘It’s not that I don’t want this,’ she assured him, making him smile against her mouth. ‘I just… fuck it.’ Beth suddenly kissed him hard and for a moment he was taken by surprise, but he didn’t even try to stop her.

Valentine didn’t try to stop her tongue invading his mouth, he didn’t stop her unbuttoning his shirt, or running her fingers through his chest hair, making him groan and kiss her back with as much intensity. Before he knew it, Beth was pushing him back against the bed, following him down so that she was straddling him, something he could have gotten very used to, given the chance. 

He liked the fact that she could feel his arousal beneath her, he liked that she was taking what she wanted and he especially liked that she was guiding his hands to where she wanted them, teaching him new ways of getting her off. Valentine got her shirt open and she showed him how she wanted him to tease her, to please her, to make her groan and push her hips into his own. She placed his hands over her breasts and guided his fingers around her nipples, he took note of every subtle movement her body made in response, he would definitely be using these newfound skills at a later date.

Valentine did exactly what she wanted him to, no words were exchanged, but then they didn’t need each other to speak, they were using their bodies to talk and Valentine liked what she was saying. He could feel small hesitations in her movements and knew she was losing her confidence, but he wasn’t about to let that happen so easily. Valentine sat up, still kissing her hard and stripped his shirt off, before peeling hers away from the soft skin. 

His hands kneaded the flesh from her hips all the way up to her neck and into her hair, making her head fall back as she let out a glorious sigh of relief. Valentine’s mouth attacked her neck and soon the sigh turned into a deep groan. His automatic reaction was to place his hand over her mouth, she had mentioned patrols and Valentine didn’t want her to get upset at being overheard.

‘Shhh.’ He whispered into her neck and gently bit the sensitive skin, making her legs tighten around him slightly. He loved winning those small victories over her, no one else ever had this much control over Bethany Wyndham and he was glad he was the exception. 

Beth’s chest heaved as she tried to get air into her lungs, her hands held onto his shoulders and grasped at his hair, it was a small victory he was happy to let her have, sending those heated shivers down his spine. 

Valentine moved his hands down to her trousers and began unbuttoning them, she eventually got the picture and stood up, not taking her mouth away from his as they both got rid of their remaining clothing. 

It was like his whole body inflated with desire, Beth climbed back on top of him and for a moment she looked into his eyes, he didn’t dare take his gaze away as she sank down onto him. It was as if he was reaching deeper into her, deeper than he’d ever been before and he couldn’t help but grasp her hips, holding on for all he was worth, holding them both steady. 

Her soft fingers drifted over his lips, through his beard and down his neck. It was the delicate exploration of his skin that had him fascinated by her, the way she didn’t take her eyes away from his. Valentine was sure that he’d never experienced sex in this way before, he’d never had a woman take such time to explore him like this, but he loved it. He loved being under her microscope as much as she seemed to enjoy giving over her control to him.

Beth gently moved her hips, finding a little friction against him and Valentine let out a deep moan. Her hand was suddenly over his mouth. ‘Shhh.’ She whispered against her hand, before removing the barrier and placing a soft kiss to his lips. 

When he was ready she began moving her hips over his again, but he wouldn’t be able to keep quiet for long. Valentine kissed her hard, his hand diving into her soft, thick hair and that was exactly what she needed to pick up a little speed, her hips grinding hard against his and he only encouraged the movement with his hands. 

Beth soon let her head fall back and he knew she was close, he gently pulled her head forward so that he could see the moment in her eyes, the moment he made her come, that moment of pleasure was his and he couldn’t wait for the day that she let him fully explore her body and draw out every pleasure he could.

Valentine dragged his teeth over her bottom lip and used his other hand to pull her into him hard, sending her toppling over the edge, with him following close behind. Her eyes eventually lightened and her breathing slowed, but she didn’t look away from him for the longest time. He gently kissed her soft, swollen lips and watched as it calmed her somewhat, she always tasted so good and he always loved the moment after she came for him, the one where she almost didn’t know what to do other than whatever he wanted to do.

They breathed together for a while and he gently loosened his grip on her body, letting his hands drift over her skin and realising that he could amplify her sensitivity even further. He had a choice to make, he could either continue making her come all night long, or he could bring her to a level of sensitivity that would stay with her for days, would have her craving his touch every time she moved. 

It would be an extraordinarily satisfying sight to see her face and neck flush at the mere sight of him, to know that they shared a secret unknown to the rest of the world around them, to be the reason she was slightly distracted in her work, yes, that was the victory he wanted. He wanted more of this, more of her needing his body for her pleasure, more of him being the reason she lost control. He wanted Bethany Wyndham in every way she would allow. 

Valentine could see sleep was calling her and he found himself not wanting to leave just yet. He carefully manoeuvred them both so that they were underneath the sheets of her bed and soon Beth was falling asleep against his chest.


	5. The Cluster

I’d woken up with the sun streaking into my bedroom, my whole body ached the same way it did after every encounter I had with Valentine, between my legs, my lower back and my chest from where I’d been struggling for breath. I didn’t mind the ache in the slightest, it was like the washing away of stress and frustration, but the previous night was beginning to come back to me.

I wasn’t drunk, not by a long shot, but I’d had enough to feel confident and take what I wanted and what I wanted was Valentine inside me, filling me, exploring me, I wanted more than what I’d previously had and so took his hands, guiding them over my body, taking what I needed from him. I remembered his compliance and his deep, penetrating groan as I started move with him, I loved being the reason for that noise.

I felt my body turn over and realised the other side of the bed was cold, there was a piece of paper on the pillow with a small note written on it.

Morning patrols were roaming around.   
I’ll see you again very soon.  
Thaddeus

There was something about reading his name that sent a warm rush through my whole body and every single place his hands had been ignited with desire. I knew exactly why, I was too tired to let him continue, but it didn’t stop Valentine from running his hands over the sensitive skin and making me want him all over again. He knew exactly what he was doing and a part of me was annoyed, but the other part of me wanted to play his game, to win his game.

I left the Bloody Baron and headed back into London, trying to take a few deep breaths to cool myself down. I was still feeling a little dizzy from the previous night, my legs ached and I knew that I was walking a little strangely. I made my way down to the medics to get the bandage on my arm changed and naturally my eyes found Valentine wandering around.

‘Captain Wyndham, are you feeling alright?’ One of the medics asked. 

‘I’m fine.’ I took a breath, but the second I did, Valentine saw me and I felt that hot flush run through my entire being.

‘Your temperature is elevated-‘

‘I’m fine.’ I said again and grabbed my coat to leave the medics and head to my office. 

I could feel him behind me, I didn’t even need to look, but I did need to keep my breathing steady while I walked past the senior ranking individuals close to my office.

‘Miss Wyndham.’ A voice came from the navigation room. Crome. I turned and took a deep calming breath.

‘Lord Mayor.’ I nodded and stepped just inside the navigation room.

‘We’ve encountered another trading cluster, twelve miles west of our position-‘ something made Crome stop midsentence. ‘Mr Valentine, what are you doing here?’

‘I heard about the trading cluster,’ he answered coolly. I could feel his body heat he was close to me, the natural excuse was that he was avoiding people walking in and out of the navigation room, so nothing looked out of the ordinary. That was until I felt his fingertips on my lower back, I nearly gave away my satisfaction at such a light touch. ‘I thought I could be of assistance.’ I knew for certain that he wasn’t talking about the trading cluster and I wasn’t about to play his game in such a public setting.

‘I’m sure we’ll be fine, Mr Valentine.’ I said, stepping away and over to the monitor.

‘Actually, your people have been having some difficulty in identification caused by the distance,’ Crome said and I immediately saw on the monitor that he was right. Valentine had a slightly smug look on his face and I almost hated it. ‘I’d suggest using every asset you can to find out what’s being traded down there, Miss Wyndham.’

I couldn’t do anything except nod and give a tight smile. Crome left the navigation room and Valentine stepped a little further in, looking every bit like the Thaddeus Valentine that the people adored.

‘Alright Mr Valentine, why don’t you take a look?’ I tested him, but it was clear he wasn’t taking his eyes off me. He casually wandered over to the monitor and finally tore his gaze away to check what we had, I suddenly felt like I was able to move properly. I took another breath and looked anywhere that wasn’t at him. 

‘Well, looks to me like it’s six towns recently clustered together,’ he started. ‘It’s difficult to tell exactly what they have, but two of them have large silos, probably full of fuel.’

‘How large?’ I asked and internally rolled my eyes, it didn’t stop his smirk though. 

‘Very.’ His voice was just low enough to send another flush up my neck. ‘If they’re full, it’ll be enough fuel for three weeks.’

I couldn’t stay in the navigation room any longer, I gave a quick nod to the rest of the team and left to head straight to my office. Valentine was only a couple of paces behind me and the second the door closed, I turned and held the lapels of his jacket, breathing against his lips. Valentine didn’t do anything, he stayed still against me and I knew that this was a part of his game.

His lips just barely touching mine, but his hands remained still by his sides, everything he was doing was on purpose and he knew exactly the effect it was having on me. 

‘Please.’ I breathed and I felt his mouth twitch into a smirk.

‘Tell me.’ He whispered back, I didn’t want to beg, I didn’t want him to win this game, but the ache between my legs was too much, I needed him. I didn’t say anything, wondering how long I could hold onto my will for. ‘Tell me.’ His voice was the thing that had my legs weakening, I pressed my body into him and sighed. I’d lost.

‘Make me come.’ I breathed and for a moment I thought he would deny me, but suddenly his hands were on my hips and in my hair, he kissed me hard and spun us around so that I was pinned to the door of my office.

Valentine took his time, his fingers grazed down my neck, my chest and agonizingly slowly he unbuttoned enough of my shirt to gain access to my breasts. He gently kneaded the flesh, circling my nipple, making me whimper into his mouth, it wasn’t enough I needed more. 

‘I like you like this.’ He whispered, keeping his lips only just touching mine. ‘I like having you like this.’ I could see his eyes were almost black, he really did enjoy having me beg him for release. ‘I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do to you,’ the growl came from the back of his throat and shot through my core. ‘If you say yes now, I’ll give you what you want tonight, and don’t think I won’t give you everything you want… if you say no, I’ll make sure you’re begging me for days.’ His kiss was harsh, not quite bruising which was what I really wanted, but I couldn’t contain my excitement nonetheless. His fingers began twisting my nipple and I almost lost every piece of myself. ‘Beth, I want you to look at me,’ I didn’t even realise I’d closed my eyes, I opened them and took a deep breath. ‘I want you to show me how to please you, I want you to show me how to do things no other man has ever done before,’ I felt his hand on my hip, gently squeezing the soft flesh around the bone, his thumb stroking the inside, close to where I wanted him to be. ‘I want you so close to the edge you think you might fall. If you say yes, I’ll make sure you get everything you need tonight, but if you fall too soon, you’ll get nothing.’ Valentine suddenly took his hands away and rested them either side of me against the door. ‘Tell me what you want.’

I tried to focus, tried to clear my mind even just a little, enough to actually form words. ‘I want…’ I panted, his lips grazing mine, the decision was made for me. ‘I want everything.’ I whispered and immediately he pressed his mouth to mine, giving me just a little of what I really wanted. 

‘Show me, Beth, show me what you want.’ He encouraged and kissed me again. ‘Show me the way you did last night.’

I suddenly realised that this was what he really wanted, he wanted to draw something out of me that I had never let go before. I’d let my guard slip almost entirely the previous night and for some reason I didn’t care, I couldn’t when the feeling of Valentine against me felt more essential than breathing. 

I brought his hand back to my neck, guiding his thumb over my throat lightly, the rough pads of his fingers drifting over my already sensitive skin, forcing a sigh from my chest as I brought his hand down to my breasts, massaging the way I had done the previous night, the way I got the most pleasure.

I felt his soft hair through my fingers and brought his lips to my neck where he automatically began kissing the skin, it wasn’t enough. ‘Harder.’ I whispered, without hesitation his kisses harden as he used his tongue and teeth. I bit my lip hard to stop myself from groaning. 

I brought his other hand back to my hip, I guided his movements, a mixture of light touches and deep caresses, I moved the hand on my breast to the curve of my arse, encouraging him to squeeze hard, subtly moving his fingers closer to where I really needed them. I could taste blood, but I needed more. 

I needed his fingers to work against me and he was so willing to let me guide his fingertips to my clit. I felt him groan into the crook of my neck, feeling how wet I was, how much I needed him to make me come. His fingers delved into my folds and I could have come entirely undone there and then.

‘Beth.’ He warned and I took a deep breath, feeling his hands still against me. 

As soon as I felt myself calm down, I started showing him how to move around my clit, how to tease my entrance, how to bring me up before calming me down and repeating the motion over and over until I was there, I was ready to come hard for him. 

Valentine’s hand drifted of it’s own accord back up my waist close to the curve of my breast and I knew that I wouldn’t get my relief if I let him continue.

‘Stop.’ I whispered and he knew what was about to happen.

‘Good.’ He growled next to my ear, he slowly moved his hands away from my wanting body and back to the door either side of me. For a moment I didn’t want everything, I wanted relief there and then, I wasn’t sure if I could last a whole day. ‘I know exactly how to give you more. Eight o’clock. Come to the house.’ 

We were both panting hard, I could feel a thin layer of sweat building over my skin, why didn’t I just let him continue? Valentine began buttoning my trousers and then carefully moving to my shirt, even just the lightest touch of his fingers was risky and he knew it.

‘If you touch yourself before tonight, I’ll know.’ He placed a very delicate kiss against my lips and stepped back. I hated the space, I didn’t want him away from my body, I wanted him against me, on me, inside me, with me, but his smirk told me I’d get nothing until tonight. 

I began counting the minutes within the confines of my office, each one seemed to take longer to pass and my concentration was all over the place. I tried to focus on the trading cluster, tried to find some way to work, but it was proving difficult.

‘Captain?’ Cuttle poked his head around the door to my office. 

‘What is it?’ I knew I sounded annoyed, but the quicker he said what he needed to say, the quicker I could go back to thinking on Valentine’s promise of more. 

‘Sorry to bother you, it’s just that we’ve just got word that our fuel reserves are almost depleted.’ Shit! I couldn’t stop the pen in my hand flying across the room in aggravation. 

‘Fuck!’ I yelled into my hands and leaned back in my chair. I took a deep breath and looked around my office for just a moment. ‘Alright, have you told Crome?’

‘No, ma’am.’ Cuttle was clearly intimidated by my outburst, why was I not told we were diving into our reserve fuel?

‘Keep it that way until we figure out what to do.’ I said, picking up my coat and leading Cuttle back into the navigation room. I could feel my body wasn’t quite right, it was on the edge, weak and so ready to allow a burst of energy to come through. ‘I want to know what we currently know about that cluster.’ I announced, entering the navigation room, adjusting my long green coat and waiting for my team to start speaking. No one spoke. I let my eyes up to scan the room, everyone was trying to avoid eye contact in order to avoid questioning. ‘Cuttle.’

‘Captain?’ Cuttle stepped forward a little nervous.

‘I’ll be needing Mr Valentine’s expertise in identifying the cluster.’ Cuttle scurried away and I descended the steps to look out at the horizon. ‘How much fuel do we have left?’ Again no one spoke and leaned on the railing, feeling that frustration get the better of me. ‘Someone answer me.’ I raised my voice to a tone that caused a whisper to occur over my shoulder.

‘Jessica.’ The voice whispered and I looked to where a very young navigator was sitting, shaking and trying to figure something out. I slowly approached her, seeing that she was gradually getting more a more nervous the closer I got. She was a very thin looking woman, no older than eighteen, white blonde hair that she tied into a neat bun, her dark eyes scanning over monitors and her pale complexion gradually reddening with the panic.

I stood for a moment and wondered if she would give me the answer I was looking for, but it seemed the panic was getting the better of her. Her eyes flickered up to me and I knew that this wouldn’t get us anywhere.

‘What’s your name?’ I asked and she looked as if she was about to cry.

‘Jessica.’ She said and began shaking even more, as if she were unsure of her name. ‘Jessica Elmstone.’

‘And how long have you been working in my navigation room, Miss Elmstone?’

‘This is… my first… first week.’ She mumbled.

‘Your first week?’ I questioned, making sure I heard her correctly. She nodded and I felt myself sigh. ‘Okay, I’ll be having words with Cuttle about your training then.’ I could see the fear in her eyes. ‘Do you know how to read the monitors in front of you?’

‘Yes.’ Her eyes began to water.

‘Do you understand how to use that information to make accurate predictions?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then why did you not give me a prediction when I asked for one?’ 

‘I…’

‘Did you misread the information?’

‘No.’

‘Did you lie on your application?’

‘No.’

‘Then what was it?’

‘I panicked.’ She suddenly said and I sighed.

‘Miss Elmstone,’ I leaned on her console. ‘This is the navigation room, not the London museum or the air dock or the gut. There is no value or time for panic up here, only statistics and information.’ I took a breath. ‘Now I can only presume that you were sent to work here because of impressive scores from your instructors?’

She looked up and realised that I wasn’t exactly angry. She nodded.

‘Top of the class?’ I stood up straight. She nodded again. ‘I wouldn’t allow anything less on my team. Take a breath, refocus and give me the predictions I need. Remember I’d much rather you interrupt me than wait until it’s too late.’

I turned back to lean on the railing and look out at the horizon while Elmstone got on with her task. I began taking slow, deep breaths, anything to calm myself down. 

‘We have approximately twenty-three miles of fuel left.’ She answered and for a moment nothing happened.

Valentine arrived at a moment when the entirety of London had come to a standstill, Cuttle hadn’t told him exactly why he’d been summoned to the Navigation room, only that Beth needed help in identification of the trading cluster. He’d arrived at an entirely silent navigation room, no one was moving or doing anything that made too much noise, in fact Beth’s pacing was the only sound. 

Valentine stepped into the navigation room and frowned, slightly amused at how one woman could render an entire room silent.

‘Captain Wyndham?’ Valentine tested, seeing that everyone was suddenly a little tense at the new noise that was added to the silence. ‘You summoned me?’

Beth stopped and sighed, looking out at the vast expanse beyond London’s viewing deck. 

‘Mr Valentine, you previously suggested that there may be two silos full of fuel in that trading cluster, is that right?’ She asked and Valentine took another couple of steps towards her.

‘That’s right.’ He answered.

‘Any idea what type of fuel?’

Valentine shook his head, coming to stand next to her on the viewing deck. ‘Could be anything, salt, brick, stone or something else entirely.’

‘Okay.’ She nodded. ‘Can you say with any certainty that it is in fact fuel in those silos?’

Valentine wasn’t exactly sure of what she meant by the question, but he grabbed the telescope anyway and looked out at where the cluster stood, he couldn’t quite see clearly enough, but it was clear that those silos should have contained some kind of fuel that could be used to keep London running.

‘I would say that I’m eighty percent sure.’ He confirmed.

‘Okay, that’s good enough for me.’

Right on cue, Crome walked through the doors of the navigation room.

‘Why have we stopped?’ He demanded. 

‘Because Lord Mayor, London is currently sitting on less than twenty miles of fuel in it’s reserves,’ Beth said, confidently striding up to Crome. Valentine knew she was suddenly under an enormous amount of stress and pressure. ‘My team and I have come up with a plan of action to ensure we gather up the two trading towns in that cluster that have silos. With Mr Valentine’s assistance we have deduced that the silos should contain enough fuel for the next three weeks as well as putting another fifty miles in our reserves.’

‘What exactly is the plan?’

Valentine watched Beth swallow nervously, not that anyone else would have identified it as nervousness. He could see that she held her hands tightly behind her back, she was still reeling from what they had done earlier in the day and a part of him was pleased, he wasn’t exactly unaffected by the whole experience either.

‘With your permission, I will take the Bloody Baron to the cluster, pose as a trader and ensure the two targets cannot flee before we ingest them.’ 

Valentine stepped forward again so he was almost in line with Beth, Crome just peered down at the both of them, slightly unimpressed, but assessing her suggestion. 

‘You want to sabotage the towns engines?’ Crome clarified.

‘Yes, sir.’ Beth nodded. ‘The chase could go on for more than twenty miles and London simply doesn’t have the resources to keep up.’

‘Indeed. Though I don’t suppose the cluster will remain in place for much longer.’

‘I plan on leaving immediately, sir.’ 

Valentine was only slightly shocked at her suggestion, it seemed her loyalty to London outweighed even her desire for release. He was extremely impressed and a little turned on by her determination.

‘Mr Valentine, what do you make of the whole thing?’ Crome suddenly put the spotlight on him, but Beth didn’t dare turn back.

‘I think Captain Wyndham’s assessment is accurate.’ He said and stood directly next to Beth. ‘With the fuel we currently have, London will not see out a chase. However, one of those towns looks to operate entirely on technological trade, I’d like to offer my assistance in her plan as well as use the opportunity to find out if there is anything of use for the energy project.’

‘You think it’s likely that there will be anything of value there?’

‘Well, there’s only one way to find out for certain, but I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think it was worth investigating.’ Valentine concluded and noticed that Beth had gone entirely rigid.

Crome took a deep breath and looked out at the horizon. ‘Alright, you have twelve hours to complete your task, before we set a course for the cluster, use your time wisely, Miss Wyndham.’

Crome left the navigation room and Valentine watched as she gave out her final orders to the rest of the navigators. She didn’t even acknowledge that he was still standing beside her, instead Beth left the navigation room with Valentine trailing after her.

‘Captain Wyndham.’ Valentine called after her. 

‘I’d suggest you gather your things, Mr Valentine.’ She didn’t stop walking out of the building and towards her home. ‘The Baron leaves in fifteen minutes.’

Valentine didn’t push the matter whilst in a public setting, instead he went home and gathered anything he might have needed, including generic trader clothes that he could wear to stay hidden.


	6. Sabotaged

Valentine made his way up to the Bloody Baron to find that Beth was already getting the ship ready for take-off. He didn’t say anything when he entered into the ship, he just put his bag down and sat next to her in the cockpit. Valentine took a moment to admire how good she looked in civilian clothing, tight black trousers, low leather boots, a tight black vest and a black pilot’s jacket, she also had a soft black scarf that looked as though she often wore it to cover her face. She was incredibly sexy.

‘Anything I can do?’ Valentine asked, sincerely.

‘Nope.’ She said and continued readying the ship. They sat in silence until finally they were in the air, Valentine noticed they were taking a strange route to the trading cluster and questioned it. ‘If they can see London,’ she sighed, ‘I don’t want to give them any reason to think that’s where we’ve come from. We’ll head east for a while before rounding back towards the towns, make it look like we’ve come from the north.’ 

‘It’s a good idea.’ He nodded and relaxed back in his chair, watching as the Baron flew higher and higher out of sight of London.

They flew for nearly an hour before Beth finally spoke up.

‘Why are you here, Valentine?’ Her cheeks were a little red, she was either flushed or angry and he was willing to bet it was a bit of both. ‘I want the truth.’

‘I’ve never lied to you Beth.’

‘I told you, it’s Bethany, or Captain Wyndham.’ She was definitely angry.

‘Okay, the truth is one of those towns trades in old tech and I’m interested securing anything I can to help with the energy project.’ Valentine said. He could see her assessing his answer and trying to figure out if she believed him. ‘I’m not here to interfere with anything, I promise.’

Beth looked over at him and scanned his face with her darkened green eyes. She sighed and wiped a thin layer of sweat from her brow. ‘I don’t want to play your game anymore,’ she looked back at the sky. ‘Not if it interferes with my work.’

Valentine could understand that, it was fun while he was simply keeping her quiet in her office, but if it meant her concentration was gone in the middle of a life or death situation then it wasn’t worth it and there was a good chance that he wouldn’t get the chance to play his game again when it was safe to do so. 

‘Okay, we don’t have to.’ He agreed and noticed that she was still rigid, her knuckles were still white and she was still trying to keep her breathing under control. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Of course not!’ She snapped and it would have given him a rush had she not been so annoyed. 

‘You want me to help?’ 

Valentine saw her turn to him out of the corner of his eye and he gave a small smirk. 

‘I’m setting the ship to autopilot, you’ve got two hours before we dock.’ Beth flicked a few switches and the ship slipped into autopilot. She stood up and began making her way to the bedroom, shedding her jacket and revealing the smooth skin over he shoulders and a little down her back. 

Valentine followed, shedding his own pilot’s jacket and suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of actually giving her what she deserved. She turned back to see him, her whole body was ready for him and she didn’t even know it. Valentine took two strides and immediately pressed his lips to hers, he devoured her mouth and it felt good not to have to hide his groan. 

Beth pulled back a little, her hands travelling up his chest. ‘I don’t want everything,’ she said and Valentine frowned. ‘I just don’t want to feel like this anymore.’ He was slightly confused, was she seriously just asking for something quick and easy? He’d been looking forward to taking his time, to fully exploring her body and letting her give in to the feeling of being worshipped, but suddenly he feared that he may never have gotten the chance. 

Valentine decided that maybe he could change her mind, maybe he could convince her to let him give her more than what she asked for. He kissed her harshly, dragging his teeth over her lip, listening to the deep groan that came straight from her chest. He wasn’t going to waste any time, if he only had two hours then he would use every minute he could to please her. 

Valentine didn’t stop kissing her as he took off his thin jacket that previously sat underneath his pilot’s jacket and moved them against the wide cabinet next to the bed. He ran his fingers underneath the hem of her vest and began dragging the material up and over her head. Her entire body was the perfect fit against his, her skin was warm and smooth and apparently reeling with sensitivity. Valentine ran his hands up her hips, to her waist and pulled her body flush against his, her groan shot straight through him.

He felt her hands finding the buttons on his shirt and start to undo them, he couldn’t wait to feel her skin on his. Valentine stripped his shirt off and buried his hands in her hair, making them both swallow each other’s moans, he was desperate to draw more than just groans from her. 

Valentine ran his hands back down her body, lifting her so that her legs wrapped around his waist, their chests pressed together and by some small loss of control, he had her pinned to the wall, whilst his mouth worked against her jaw, down to her neck. He remembered that she responded better when he did more than kiss and soon he was sucking hard against her skin, using his teeth to make her whimper next to his ear and grasp his hair more tightly between her fingers. 

This was what Valentine had wanted when he first had Beth pinned to her bookshelf, he wanted her whimpering and craving his touch, he wanted her to give over all control to him and he wanted her to show him exactly how to please her properly.

Valentine moved them both to the bed, laying her down gently and continuing his attack on her neck and chest while his fingers found the clasp of her bra. He immediately ran his tongue over her nipple and felt her back arch up, craving more than just a quick lick. Valentine knew that this was a moment he could savour, a moment he could use to convince her to play his game again. 

His hand gently worked over her hip and waist, his mouth enveloped her nipple and his hips pushed teasingly into her. He was already hard and could easily have finished her off, finding his own relief quickly, but that wouldn’t help his case any. 

Valentine dragged his beard over her now dangerously sensitive skin, he moved to her other nipple with his mouth, making sure his hand continued the work against her wet skin.

‘Fuck Thaddeus.’ She groaned, he could feel her getting close and he couldn’t believe how responsive he’d made her. 

‘Just let go.’ He growled and suddenly her body was arching and shaking and she was groaning his name, loudly and proudly. He smiled and placed soft kisses all the way up her chest, neck and dragged his teeth over her earlobe, she cooed in response and he was sure of the answer before he even asked the question. ‘Shall I keep going?’

‘Yes.’ She breathed and Valentine kissed her hard again. Her hips pushed up into him and he knew exactly what he wanted to do next. 

Valentine trailed harsh kisses down her skin, all the way to the top of her trousers, he didn’t stop using his mouth on her as he unbuttoned the top of her jeans and felt her hand encouraging him to go lower and lower to where the real pleasure was. He made quick work of her jeans and threw them behind him somewhere, before starting a new attack on the inside of her legs where the skin was softer than he anticipated. Valentine could have spent all his time running his mouth over her soft, warm thighs, the moans echoed throughout the room and he was using every sound he could to figure out what gave her the most pleasure.

‘Thaddeus.’ She sighed as he placed a gentle kiss to her soaking wet centre. He could feel his body reacting already to her gentle sighs and for a moment he worried that he wouldn’t be able to last very long if he continued the way he intended to go, but this wasn’t about him, it was about her and the pleasure he could give her. 

Valentine settled himself, kneeling on the floor at the edge of her bed, he ran his tongue lightly up her centre and felt her body twitch with the sensitivity, he listened to her low sigh and decided to take what he wanted for himself. His hands ran up her body, massaging the soft warm flesh while his tongue began to move using the same patterns that she’d guided his fingers in, finally he could hear that groan that he’d always stopped, the one that meant she was on the verge of coming undone. 

He worked his tongue hard against her, using everything she had taught him to give her as much pleasure as he could. Valentine brought his hand around to tease her and bring her to the edge. 

‘Please!’ She begged and Valentine didn’t need to be asked twice. His tongue and fingers worked together to send her hurtling over the edge, her hands twisted in the sheets, her back arched and she cried his name so loud that it echoed throughout the whole ship. 

Valentine didn’t stop, he slowly eased her down before making his way back up her body, using his lips, his tongue, his teeth, all working over her sensitive skin. He groaned into her mouth, his hands buried deep into her hair and he knew that he wouldn’t last long.

‘Beth,’ he whispered between kisses. ‘I need to be inside you.’ He suddenly realised that her fingers were already working on removing his trousers, he felt her smiling against his lips and could not have asked for anything more. 

Valentine kissed her quickly before getting up off the bed to finish taking his trousers off, he couldn’t help but admire her naked body splayed out ready for him. He hadn’t noticed the scars before, but he didn’t seem to care about them now that he had. 

The moment he threw the last of his clothing away, her eyes widened and she gently bit her lip, he liked that look on her. Beth suddenly sat up and eased herself closer to his impressive length, her dark green eyes flickered up to his as her tongue came out, running up his shaft, forcing a deep groan out of his chest. He couldn’t help but run his fingers through her soft hair, something that only encouraged her to wrap her lips around the tip of his cock. He’d never seen anything prettier than Bethany Wyndham’s rosy lips around his hardened length, she was so beautiful, but he knew he couldn’t continue without coming too soon.

‘Stop.’ He commanded in a low voice, her eyes smiled at him and again he was happy to let her have that small victory over him.

‘Too much?’ She teased and he couldn’t help his half laugh.

‘Lie down.’ 

She did as she was told and Valentine gently pried her knees apart so that her body was entirely open to him, it was an invitation he was happy to accept. He slowly climbed back on top of her, feeling her soft, warm, welcoming body beneath his as he rested on his forearms either side of her head. Valentine lined himself up with her and place a delicate kiss against her soft lips.

‘Look at me.’ He whispered. It was his favourite thing in the whole world, to see those beautiful green eyes piercing his as he eased himself all the way inside her. 

He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her a little more harshly than before. Valentine didn’t want to fuck her, he wanted to make love to her; never in all his life had he wanted that with any woman, he’d always taken care and given women what they wanted, but he’d never cared this much about their pleasure. 

He couldn’t stop kissing her with every thrust, each time her fingers dug a little deeper into his shoulders and he was a little more satisfied that she would reach a third climax. Valentine had to pull back to look at her, to watch her expression as he picked up the pace of his hips, he pushed deeper and a little harder, the way she liked it and her groans only told him to keep it up.

‘Beth.’ He breathed, he couldn’t stop saying her name and suddenly her eyes found his as she tightened around him. ‘That’s it, that’s it.’ He whispered, feeling his thrusts becoming erratic as he suddenly came harder than he’d ever come before. ‘God Beth.’ He kissed her and rested his forehead against hers. They just breathed together for a while, calming down and taking in what they had experienced together. ‘Was that what you were looking for?’ He asked, making her half laugh.

She lifted her hand to run through his hair and stare up at him, her eyes were brighter and Valentine could have watched them all day long. She gently moved her hand to his jaw and leaned up to kiss him softly. He didn’t want her to stop, Valentine wanted to keep kissing her lazily and for a while he just let her continue, he loved feeling the softness of her pressing against him.

Valentine suddenly stopped, a realisation had hit him that he never thought of before; he was falling in love. He’d never been in love in all his life, he’d loved women and he’d cared for them, but he’d never felt this kind of attraction to another human being, never wanted more for someone else than he wanted for himself.

‘What’s wrong?’ Beth asked and he wondered for a moment if he should have told her what he was thinking, but there was a strong possibility that she didn’t feel the same way about him. 

‘Nothing.’ He said and finally pulled himself out of her, getting up and dressed. ‘Take your time, I’ll keep us steady.’ 

Valentine had barely got his shirt back on before he left Beth to get dressed again.

I wasn’t sure I knew anyone could have sex with that much care and passion. Valentine seemed to be getting off on every little noise and every little positive movement I made, like the act of pleasing me was all he was interested in, even in the seconds after it was over, he was tender and caring, gently kissing me the same way he did every time, but something had made him stop. 

I didn’t push the subject, but the rest of the way to the trading cluster he seemed to be thinking hard on something. I didn’t have time to dwell on it too much, once we landed on the only remaining dock, we were heavily questioned by the attendants. I did most of the talking, informing them that we were independent traders in need of refuelling, Valentine casually mentioning he may as well have looked around to see if there was anything of interest.

‘Well, you’d best hurry, sir,’ the younger looking attendant said, allowing us to walk through. ‘We got word there’s a predator city heading our way from the south, I suspect we’ll be dispersing in an hour or two.’

‘We’ll be back before then.’ I assured him and pulled up my scarf as we headed into the centre of the trading cluster. ‘We’d best stick together for a little while, make it look like we’re just browsing.’

Valentine didn’t say anything, but nodded in agreement and for a while we wandered around the markets together, feigning interest in various stalls, before finally separating and getting on with our respective tasks. It was surprisingly easy to get into the engine rooms of the two target towns and I managed to secure a little fuel for the Bloody Baron as well.

I could see Valentine still talking to the same trader he was talking to when I left him, I headed in his direction and saw him pick something up, it looked like some kind of bolt, or adapter, but whatever it was, Valentine was keen to keep it concealed. 

I stood just in his eyeline and indicated we needed to leave. 

‘Thank you for your help.’ He nodded to the tradesman and came to stand next to me in the middle of the town. ‘We can’t leave yet.’ He said, without looking at me.

‘Why not?’ I was glad I pulled my scarf up, it meant that no one could read my lips and all I needed to do was keep my voice low, it was a trick I’d learnt on Arkangel. ‘The engine rooms will be discovered soon and we need to get back to London before they are.’

‘I need to find a man called Ridley,’ Valentine explained. ‘He has a piece of old tech that I’ve been looking for. Just another twenty minutes and then we can leave.’

‘Fine.’ I sighed. ‘Twenty minutes, but we’ll need to head straight back, no detours.’

Valentine nodded again and I did my best to follow him, keeping a relative distance so as to avoid looking too suspicious. It took fifteen minutes to find Ridley, who in the end was tucked away in a corner on the other side of the cluster. Valentine spoke to him for the remaining five minutes before we needed to leave. I suddenly saw another set of silos hidden from view, it would be a shame to leave without at least attempting to enter into the engine room of that particular town. 

‘Straight back to the Baron when you’re done.’ I said, quietly to Valentine. I could see people walking in front of the door I needed to get to and the window in which to sabotage the engines would be small.

I wandered away from Valentine and found my way into the tiny engine room, voices continued to wander past and getting out would definitely prove to be harder than getting in. I loosened a couple of bolts and removed some gears that would prevent the town from moving, but my time was running out, I could hear the voices talking about leaving soon.

I stayed just inside the engine room, knowing that if I left, I would be caught red handed. I would need to wait for a few minutes before risking it. There was a very brief lull in the conversation before a loud alarm began sounding.

‘PREDATOR! PREDATOR CITY!’ A voice came through the door. Shit!

I sprinted out of the engine room and in all the confusion and rushing around, no one seemed to notice that I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. I ran straight for the Bloody Baron, not stopping for any reason, but the towns had already started to scatter and Valentine was already on board the Baron two towns over.

I could hear the struggle of the sabotaged towns as I leaped onto a moving cluster, but the Baron was too far away. Valentine went straight towards the cockpit and I tried to find the highest point I could. 

I climbed up to the roof of one of the towns and turned just in time to see Valentine flying by. I grabbed the edge of the open door and clambered inside, closing the door and heading straight for the cockpit. 

‘Move.’ I ordered Valentine, who surprisingly did exactly that. ‘What the fuck are they doing?’ I yelled, furious that London was coming into view as three of the trading towns were left stranded, I could just about see people jumping onto the moving towns as I pulled the Baron up and sped back towards London.

‘Crome probably gave the order.’

‘Barely five hours and he expects miracles.’

‘He’s scared.’

‘He’s an idiot!’ I shot back and that seemed to be the last of my furious energy expunged, I took a breath and flew the Baron back to it’s landing dock, before striding purposefully towards the navigation room. Valentine disappeared, presumably to the gut, but I wasn’t really focused on that, instead I was more interested in finding out why the order was given to give chase to the trading cluster.


	7. Defence

I was in meetings with Crome for the rest of the day, well, I was arguing with him about his decision to move London forward without thinking about the consequences of what could have happened.

‘Do not lecture me about the dealings of my city!’ Crome stood up from his desk, trying to intimidate me.

‘It’s my city as well!’ I snapped back. ‘I don’t want to see us stranded in the middle of the wastelands and that is exactly what would have happened if we hadn’t gotten to the cluster in under six hours.’ I took a breath and Crome looked as though he was going to throw something heavy at me. ‘Do you know what it feels like to starve, Lord Mayor? Do you?’ I pressed, to no answer. ‘I swore I would never know that feeling again and I would not wish it upon London. I will not allow anyone to put the lives on this city at risk like that.’

‘Are you threatening me?’

‘No. I’m just making sure we’re on the same page when it comes to what is best for London.’

‘Lord Mayor?’ Valentine. I turned to see him standing at the door, perfectly innocently. ‘You asked to see me?’

‘Mr Valentine, I want your honest assessment of Miss Wyndham’s efforts during your time away.’ Crome demanded, he couldn’t look at me for a single second longer.

‘Captain Wyndham’s efforts should go without question,’ he said, almost immediately, much to Crome’s displeasure. ‘Her focus was entirely on ensuring the towns we selected were sabotaged in good time, her goal was to ensure London would not go without fuel for the next three weeks and when I insisted on staying to investigate a piece of technology, she did not hesitate to put my safety before hers.’

‘In what way?’

‘Captain Wyndham saw an opportunity to secure a third town with full silos, she ordered me to return to the ship once I was finished and considering her expertise, I decided not question her orders and returned to the ship immediately.’ 

Crome just watched us both for a moment, suspicion lacing his gaze. ‘Is there something going on between you two?’ Valentine and I glanced at each other, feigning confusion.

‘What are you suggesting?’ Valentine spoke first. 

‘You tell me,’ Crome shot back. ‘This is not the first time you’ve rushed to Miss Wyndham’s aid so eagerly.’

‘I was summoned here.’ Valentine snapped, what the hell was wrong with him? ‘You asked me to come here and give you my assessment of Captain Wyndham’s actions and that is what I have done.’

Crome didn’t seem to have much of an answer and I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.

‘Mr Valentine, you can leave us now.’ Crome was clearly taken back by Valentine’s response and I was still at a bit of a loss. I was still angry at Crome’s actions while we were on the trading cluster, but Valentine had been acting strangely ever since the Baron and given me no real reason why. 

Crome and I spent the rest of the day going back and forth, getting nowhere and eventually I left without any resolution to the argument. 

I spent what remained of my evening on board the Baron, making small repairs to any damages and refuelling the ship. The night air was cool against my skin as I slid out from beneath the ship, there was little more I could do for the night and made the decision to lock up and get some sleep. 

However, Valentine’s silhouette in the distance slowed my movements. There were patrols everywhere and Crome already made clear his suspicions about the two of us, so what was he doing?

Valentine needed to see her, he needed to tell her, or at least find out if she felt the same way. He needed to know exactly what this was between them, maybe he just wanted the reassurance, they’d already agreed that this was needs based, that there was no real emotion attached, it was just physical, a release.

‘Beth.’ He breathed, watching as she stood up in nothing more than her black vest, cleaning her hands of any oil that remained. He could see the confusion on her face, but was quickly drawn to the soft skin of her neck. ‘We need to talk.’ Valentine was desperately trying to control his breathing, slow and deep.

Beth gave a quick nod and led him up into the Baron. ‘What’s this about?’ He wanted so badly to ask her the same question, if only the answer being that she felt the same way as him. 

‘I just wanted confirm things with you.’ Valentine internally rolled his eyes.

‘What things?’ She frowned.

‘Us.’ Another pause and she was visibly more confused than before. She leaned back against her dresser and dried her hands of any remaining dirt, he wanted to do that for her, to take her into the shower and wash every single part of her body. He could feel his body starting warm up. ‘I just want to know that we’re on the same page with our arrangement, if we, in fact, still have an arrangement.’

It took her a long moment to think, but eventually Beth sighed and watched him with those pretty green eyes. ‘I don’t want to play anymore games that could put London at risk, today was a close call and I didn’t appreciate it… but there is no denying that since this began, I’ve felt a lot less stressed with trivial things and it has made me somewhat more focussed on my work… if you’re happy to continue then I would appreciate the release every now and again.’ He could see the light dusting of pink creeping over her cheeks.

‘And that’s… all you’re looking for?’ Valentine decided to test the waters, if there was a chance they could be more then he wanted to take it. 

Beth frowned and thought for another agonising moment. ‘What else would I be looking for?’

Valentine couldn’t speak, she really didn’t feel the same way as him, she wasn’t falling for him, this really was just physical for her and nothing else. 

‘I don’t know.’ Valentine lied. ‘I just wanted to make sure that my actions this morning didn’t put you off entirely.’ He hated every word that left his mouth, he’d never lied to her, not once and now that was all he was doing. He took a step forward, hoping he could redeem himself in some way. ‘I do regret making you lose focus, it wasn’t my intention,’ he could smell her, a mixture of oil and the scent he could only attribute to her. ‘I won’t do it again if it interferes with your work… but even you can’t deny that it had a happy ending.’

It was so nice to see her smile again, her pretty features only amplified even more, Valentine was in so much trouble. 

‘You’re right,’ she nodded. ‘I can’t deny it.’ 

‘Good.’ Valentine was resisting every instinct he had to kiss her, he wanted to taste her, to listen to her moan, to take her to heights that only he could. ‘Right, that was all I wanted to clarify. I suppose I’ll see you again soon, especially if Crome continues on the war path he’s on.’ 

‘Guaranteed.’ She half laughed and gently bit her lip, he almost stepped forward and lost all control. 

‘Good night, Beth. Make sure you sleep.’ He said, feeling his breathing starting to get a little out of hand. 

‘You too.’ She called as Valentine turned away, he needed to leave before he did anything he’d regret. ‘Valentine?’ She stopped him moving any further, her voice penetrating his very core. ‘Sorry, I just wanted to ask,’ he turned back to see her curious frown. ‘Today with Crome, you defended me, you said my actions should have gone without question… I just wondered why you said that.’

‘Because it’s true, Beth.’ Valentine couldn’t help himself, he stepped back into her space, just to make her understand him better. ‘Your actions in the last few weeks have been nothing short of exceptional and I cannot understand why Crome is so intent on making it seem otherwise. Beth, you are stronger than you think you are, smarter and you don’t deserve to be treated like anything less than exceptionally talented.’ Valentine suddenly stopped and tore his eyes away from her bright green ones. ‘You’ve been through a lot and I just think its time you start being recognised for that.’ 

Beth was quiet for a moment, before nodding and looking away. She stood up straight as if to move away from him, but his gaze shot up to hers and suddenly he couldn’t let her move away from him. He knew this moment, he recognised this look.

‘It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?’ She said, almost whispering. ‘It’s been stressful.’ 

Valentine didn’t skip a beat, he pressed a harsh kiss to her lips, his hands delving deep into her hair, but this time it felt different. He took his time, fully exploring her mouth, feeling the exhaustion lacing every movement, he wanted to take care of her, wanted her to lay back and just absorb him, but he knew he couldn’t go through with it that night, he needed to think on the realisation that he’d come to that morning.

He dragged his teeth over her lip and listened to the deep groan that emerged from her throat. Maybe he could give in a little longer. His hands found her wonderfully full hips and he suddenly knew exactly how he could avoid his feelings whilst giving into her. Valentine drifted down her neck and listened to the soft sighs turning into groans, his beard pressed into the sensitive skin, his hips connecting with hers as her voice found a breathier depth to it. 

‘Turn around.’ He whispered harshly against her ear. Much to his excitement, she did exactly as he asked, she steadied herself against the dresser as he shed his coat and waistcoat. Valentine once again pulled her hips against him, so she could feel his arousal and once again that incredible sound that came deep from within her echoed through his heart. ‘Take your trousers off.’ He commanded low next to her ear, nipping gently at the lobe. 

He brought his hands up to massage her perfectly round breasts as Beth went about unbuckling her belt quickly. He liked that she was eager, that she wanted him as much as he needed her. Valentine quickly unbuckled his own belt and watched as her perfect soft and round arse was exposed. He wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity, not in a million years.

Valentine kissed below her ear and felt her hand come up to the wall to further steady herself. He kept her pinned between his body and the dresser as his fingers drifted slowly down her curved back and slid down her soft flesh. Valentine let his own groan go, dragging his beard across the back of her neck as he almost began panting. His fingers slid down further to feel how soft and warm and wet she was.

‘Fuck.’ He whispered. ‘You’re dripping for me.’ Valentine couldn’t help his half laugh as he tested her arousal. Every single movement he made, seemed to make her weaken even further than before.

‘God, Thaddeus.’ She panted, he slowed his circular movements, teasing her. ‘No, don’t stop, God, please don’t stop.’ She was so beautiful when she begged like that.

Valentine smiled into her skin, gently pushing his fingers into her, without warning, he felt her coming undone around him. ‘That’s it, just let go for me.’ And that was exactly what she did. Beth’s body began sinking down as she struggled to hold herself up any longer, but he wasn’t about to let her stop feeling such pleasure so soon. Valentine quickly removed his trousers and pushed himself inside her, making her back arch and her hips move back into the motion. 

He remained still for a moment, just feeling her around him, he didn’t ever want to leave this space, he wanted her in so many more ways that they had yet to explore. He suddenly felt her getting nervous, he had been still for far longer than he intended and she noticed. Valentine leaned in against her back and gently nibbled her ear. 

‘Beth,’ he whispered. ‘You’re allowed to want this from me… tell me you feel the same, tell me, I’m allowed to want you.’

‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘God, Thaddeus, yes.’

Valentine thrusted further inside her, his hand coming up to run through the back of her hair, something she seemed to enjoy more than he anticipated. ‘Is that right?’ He smiled into her skin, listening to her soft laugh. ‘Well, if that’s what you want…’ he tried not to be too harsh at first, just gently fisting her hair as he slowly moved inside her.

‘Please.’ She begged, her eyes were closed, but her hips kept moving back into him. He’d let her fuck him all day if it would please her. 

‘Tell me.’

‘I need more.’ Beth managed to get out and only made him thrust a little deeper into her.

Valentine increased the pace, he gently pulled her hair back, so that she was looking up and her back arched so perfectly. He couldn’t help himself, his fingers drifted over her throat, feeling her pulse quicken each second that passed. ‘Come for me Beth,’ he commanded her, he couldn’t hold on much longer. ‘Come for me now.’

She did exactly as he asked of her, coming hard and falling down slowly. He followed her over the edge, kissing every patch of skin he could find softly and delicately. He’d found out from their previous encounters that she was incredibly sensitive and needed to be treated with care in the moments after she came, something he was more than happy to do. 

‘Good girl.’ Valentine whispered and felt her gently clenching around him. That was interesting.

Valentine carefully removed himself from her, realising that he didn’t feel quite as satisfied as he should have done. He wanted to see those pretty green eyes and he couldn’t, he didn’t allow himself to see her at the heights of pleasure. He quickly pulled up his trousers and found his waistcoat and long coat. 

‘You’re leaving.’ Beth croaked, still trying to redress herself, but shaking as she did.

He sighed and stepped closer to help, zipping her trousers up and pulling her vest down to cover her skin, skin he wished he’d kissed and tasted. Valentine lifted his gaze and found those eyes he’d missed. He placed a soft kiss to her mouth and lingered for a moment or two. 

‘I need to leave now.’ He whispered, but he knew he wasn’t convincing her of his intention. ‘Beth, I need to leave.’ 

Neither of them really knew what it was he was trying to say, he wasn’t asking permission, but he felt he couldn’t go until she said it was okay, he wanted to kiss her and make love to her the way she deserved to be made love to. 

‘I don’t think you want to.’ Beth whispered back. ‘I think you want to stay.’ It was flirty and a harsh reminder of the terms of the arrangement, this was physical, it was sexual, emotion had no place in this world they’d created for themselves. 

‘Patrols will be walking by soon,’ Valentine stepped back, giving himself some space from her. ‘We don’t want Crome thinking anything more than he already suspects… until next time, Beth.’

Without another word, Valentine left. He’d just had sex with someone he was falling in love with, but felt more heartbroken than if he’d done nothing at all. He made a decision that night, he couldn’t let himself get in any deeper with Beth, he would be there if she needed him, but he couldn’t look her in the eyes anymore, he just couldn’t risk losing himself like that.


	8. Loss

The next few months were strange, Valentine made fewer visits to the Navigation room and I rarely saw him in the gut, I didn’t think much of it at first, but soon a pattern started to emerge. We would find a trading clusters, if London was low on fuel, I would take the Baron over to sabotage the towns and secure the silos, but Valentine never came with me, on occasion he would give me a list of things to look out for, but I didn’t always have time to search the markets. I would get back, Crome and I would argue for one reason or another and I would find Katherine to let out a little steam, when it wasn’t enough I would head for the Baron to get some rest, but before I could, Valentine would appear and give me a small release. He would always leave immediately after.

It was mostly fine, but one thing was starting to get to me, we never had sex the way we did that first time on the Baron, there was no more passion and no more tenderness or care taken. Sometimes I craved the control he had over me, I craved him telling me to remove my clothes, I needed him to tell me when to come, but it was never done with any hint of enjoyment. It was like he was going through the motions instead of acting on instinct, like it was becoming stale for him. 

I didn’t understand it, if he didn’t want to sleep with me, he only had to say so and we would stop and never speak of those moments again, but for some reason he kept coming to me when I needed something more than words. I was convinced that some days he was tempted to fake his own release, but he never did as far as I could tell. I felt like we were drifting further apart and it wasn’t something I wanted for either of us. We couldn’t let it interfere with our work and I was worried that that was exactly what was happening.

Just as I was having thoughts of ending our arrangement, Valentine stepped through the door of the Baron, looking more than a little frustrated. He sighed and leaned against the door frame, staring down at the floor.

‘Are you alright?’ I asked, vaguely aware of the exhaustion surrounding both of us. 

‘No.’ He said and for the first time since I could remember, I really didn’t want to have sex with him that night. ‘I need you.’ It was so quiet, I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly.

‘What?’ I breathed.

‘Tell me what you want.’ He stood up from leaning against the door and approached me. ‘I haven’t satisfied you… just tell me what you want and I will.’ His sudden closeness was dizzying, I could feel his warmth lightly grazing me.

I tried to think, I tried to figure out what kind of day he’d had, our arrangement went both ways as far I knew and if he needed something then I would do what I could, because that was what we agreed. The only problem was, I had no idea what I wanted in that moment. I felt his fingers lightly drifting over my hip, he knew how to tease out that side of me and it was partly very annoying. 

‘Beth.’ He breathed, I hadn’t even realised my eyes had closed, but I could feel his breath against my lips. ‘Come to bed with me.’ Was it a question? He’d never really asked before, often he would simply seduce and command. His hand had found the soft and sensitive skin on my hips, he began gently massaging it, running the rougher pads of his thumbs over the inside, venturing slightly lower every time.

‘Thaddeus.’ I sighed and let my head fall back against the wall of my bedroom that I was suddenly up against, when did we move closer? His soft lips began trailing light kisses from the tip of my chin, down my throat to the edge of my collarbone. I could feel his soft hair through my fingers, his warm body pressing further into mine. ‘Please.’ I begged, his tongue drifting slowly across my collarbone.

‘Tell me, Beth.’ He whispered, dragging his beard up my neck to just below my ear.

‘I need more.’ I managed to get out, but it wasn’t enough for him.

‘Tell me what you need, darling.’ His teeth dragged over my jaw, eliciting a light moan from my throat.

‘Harder.’ I pleaded. Valentine didn’t hesitate, his gently bit and sucked the sensitive skin of my neck, rewarding every noise I made with another harsh and intoxicating kiss. ‘Yes.’ I sighed and found my fist clenched into the fabric of his green coat. ‘Don’t stop.’ 

Valentine brought his hand up to gently pry mine away from his coat and for a moment I panicked, before hearing the low rumble of him chuckling. He removed his coat, throwing it somewhere on the floor, before returning to my neck which was now more sensitive than it had ever been. His hand slid down to lift me up against the wall, I wrapped my legs around him and suddenly felt how hard he was, pressing into me and making every muscle in my body ache for him to do more than just kiss. 

‘You remember the first time I had you like this?’ He growled, gently thrusting his hips into my dampening core, making me want to feel him inside me so desperately. ‘The first time I made you come for me, you were gorgeous and I wanted so badly to make you mine.’ 

Valentine gave me so little time to process what he said, before devouring my mouth with his own, a bruising kiss, much like the first time we’d ever kissed in the confines of my office. His mouth moved so smoothly against my own, we knew how to kiss each other now, we knew what the other liked, we understood our needs. His teeth dragged over my bottom lip as his hand squeezed my thighs as he pulled me closer to him, if that were even possible. 

I felt one of his hands move from my thigh to my back, securing me against him before turning us around to lay down on the bed, we never separated our lips, our tongue twisting with one another as Valentine kept my leg in place wrapped around him, his hand moving down to squeeze my arse while his hips thrust a little harder into me. He was hitting just the right spot and I let my head fall back, sighing with pleasure.

Valentine once again attacked my neck and I felt the electric nature of his movements shoot downwards. ‘Fuck.’ I breathed. ‘Fuck, Thaddeus.’

‘Look at me.’ He commanded and without thinking, I opened my eyes and looked deep into his black ones as I came hard. ‘That’s it,’ he encouraged, still pushing his hips to rub against me. ‘Let go for me, darling, just for me.’ He didn’t stop watching me as I finally started to come down, but he didn’t let me go too far. 

Valentine slid his fingers beneath my vest and lifted it up, discarding it somewhere unknown, before launching a new attack on my chest. His mouth was suddenly worshipping the base of my neck down to the top of my bra, licking, biting, sucking in every way he knew how. He unclasped my bra as quickly as he could, just trying to gain access to what he really wanted. He breathed softly against my skin, as if savouring the moment before tasting the skin.

‘Gorgeous.’ Valentine growled, before enveloping my nipple in his mouth, I felt his tongue licking whilst he sucked hard. His thumb drifted lightly over my throat and up my jaw and I could help myself. I gently licked the tip and felt the vibrations of his growl through my chest. ‘Beth.’ He warned, but I didn’t care, I took the rest of his thumb into my mouth, imagining it was his hardened cock and began sucking a little harder.

I felt Valentine’s breath getting heavier, his gentle thrusting quickened and suddenly the image of him gently thrusting into my mouth had my back arching.

‘Tell me.’ Valentine commanded, lifting his head to mine, removing his thumb and replacing it with his lips, softly kissing and caressing. He moved to my cheeks, closer to my ear. ‘Beth, tell me what you want.’ The depth of his voice was gloriously penetrating. 

‘I want you,’ I stuttered, his fingers playing with my other nipple, knowing how to make me sigh and moan.

‘Where?’ He eased the pressure slightly.

‘In my mouth, Thaddeus, please.’ I begged, needing to taste him, to feel the weight of him on my tongue.

The groan was intoxicating, the pressure intensified, and he bit down a little harder below my ear. I felt him already unbuckling his belt and the thought that I might get what I wanted was overwhelming. 

Valentine pressed one last kiss to my mouth before getting up to take his waistcoat off and unzip his trousers. I found the action more arousing than I cared to admit, but it didn’t stop me from sitting up to get ready for him.

‘You look so pretty,’ Valentine smiled, his hand gently caressing my jaw. ‘Open.’ He commanded and I did as I was told. ‘Look at me, Beth.’ I found those black orbs, they were like big black holes that sucked me in and I couldn’t look anywhere else.

I loved the way he gently held my jaw as he guided himself into my mouth, I loved the noise he made when my tongue swirled slowly around the tip.

‘Beth.’ He warned. ‘Slower, don’t rush this.’ He pulled his cock away and I sorely missed the taste of him. ‘Slowly.’ He instructed and once again, I opened my mouth, kept my gaze locked with his and allowed him to guide himself into me. He ran the tip over my lips and I was desperate to taste what he’d left behind, but he didn’t give me that chance, instead he pushed just enough of himself into my mouth that I could lick away the rest straight from the source. ‘That’s it, good girl.’ He encouraged and I was so happy to comply. ‘Darling, look at me.’ I didn’t even realise my eyes had closed again. ‘Don’t stop looking at me and you’ll get what you deserve. Can you do that?’ I slowly nodded and felt a smile forming as I did, how could this man make me so excited to comply with his wishes?

Valentine gently fed a little more of himself into my mouth, his hands venturing into my hair, never going any further than he thought I could take, despite how much I wanted him to just let loose. He soon began thrusting slowly, finding the back of my throat and pausing before I gagged, but always pushing for a little more, encouraging me to use my tongue, go slower, to look at him, to touch my breasts for him. ‘Gorgeous, Beth, you’re simply gorgeous.’ 

I could see a layer of sweat building over his forehead, he loved the control he had over me and I wanted to give him even more if I could. 

‘Stop.’ He commanded and I did exactly that, my mouth was a little sore, but I didn’t care. Valentine smiled and began unbuttoning his shirt the rest of the way. ‘Lie down.’ He shed his shirt and instead of leaning down to kiss me, he kneeled between my legs and began taking my trousers off. ‘You got what you wanted, now it’s my turn.’ His wicked smile only served to make me chuckle and help him remove my trousers completely. 

Valentine kissed a line from the inside of my knee all the way up to my centre, he traced his tongue through my core just once before attending to the other leg. ‘Yes.’ I sighed, feeling his beard scratching glorious at my sensitive skin, he repeated the action and again I sighed.

‘Tell me, Beth.’ He said, moving his lips to the inside of my hips where the skin was especially thin. ‘Tell me how to please you. Tell me what you need.’ 

What I needed was for him continue kissing my hips, to knead the sensitive skin, to make my body ignite the way he did that first time in this bed. 

‘Beth?’ He questioned and I felt my eyes opening, his movements were now slow and almost unsure.

‘Kiss my hips again.’ I told him, Valentine grinned and immediately complied with my wishes, placing open mouthed, light kisses to the sensitive skin. ‘Harder.’ I needed to feel his beard and his teeth grazing and licking at my skin. 

I felt my hand dragging through his hair, pulling him harder into my hips and soon he was biting and sucking harder than he had done previously. I let out a gasp and soon he was tenderly licking and kissing the area, almost apologising for how rough he’d been. ‘Lower.’ I breathed, his kisses began trailing down, gently nipping the skin and making me coo and sigh. ‘Yes.’ I whispered as his tongue delved deep and traced over every part of me. ‘Faster.’ I begged when the tip of his tongue began flickering over my clit. ‘Fuck, Thaddeus, yes.’ I moaned.

My hand found his and gently pushed it to my core, we groaned in unison when his fingers penetrated me. ‘Tell me, darling, tell me what you need.’ He begged again and suddenly I found myself talking in a way I never knew I could, it was detailed and filthy and the driving force that made me come hard, tightening around him and making him slowly bring me down, anything to make the high last longer.

I was panting so hard, but without realising it, my eyes were open and Valentine was watching me, it was as if I was now conditioned to make eye contact when I came, not that it was entirely unwanted, in fact, watching him smirk wickedly as I came for him was one of my favourite things in the whole world.

Valentine lifted himself, kissing a trail back up my body, I could feel the places he’d been a little harsher with, gasping when he made contact with them again and only encouraging him to kiss harder and nip at the skin. Everything he did was in an effort to arouse me once again and I didn’t care that it was working like a charm. 

‘Thaddeus,’ I moaned, he placed a soft kiss to my lips and waited for me to speak, while he gently nudged at my centre again. ‘Please… I want you to have me…’ he lightly kissed me again, pushing a little harder until he was at my entrance. ‘Make me yours, Thaddeus. Only yours.’

Without warning, he pushed himself all the way inside me, making my head fall back and my back arch. For the first time in months, I felt full, completed in a way. He leaned on his forearms, either side of my head and lowered his mouth to my neck once again, licking, sucking, kissing and biting the areas that made me moan the loudest. 

Valentine thrust into me slowly at first, just getting used to the pace, but my fingers pressing and lightly scratching his back made him move a little faster. ‘Is this what you want?’ He whispered below my ear. 

‘Yes, fuck, Thaddeus, I always wanted this.’ I didn’t quite know why I was admitting that, but it seemed to spur him on, to press more bruising kisses to my skin. 

‘Beth.’ He sighed and sank deeper into me. ‘I-‘ He suddenly stopped speaking and I couldn’t help but open my eyes to see him debating something internally. ‘I want you on your side.’ He said, I wondered why he would have hesitated to say that, he’d never been unsure about asking me to change positions before.

I didn’t dwell on it too long, instead I just rolled on my side so that I was facing the bottom of the bed and towards the long mirror on the far side of my room.

‘Perfect.’ Valentine whispered against my ear as he saw my naked form in the mirror as well. He lifted my leg and pushed himself back inside me from behind, never leaving my gaze as he did. Again he went slow at first, but couldn’t control his pace forever and soon he was thrusting into me harder and faster, kissing my neck, massaging my breasts and making me groan his name louder. He guided my hand down between my legs and gently dragged his teeth over my earlobe once again. ‘Make yourself come for me, Beth. Let me watch you,’ he placed an open kiss to the highly sensitive skin below my ear. ‘Let me feel all of you.’ 

I couldn’t deny him any request, I began playing with my clit and felt his pace quicken. ‘Go slow.’ I whispered. ‘Just for a while.’ Valentine grinned at me through the mirror and slowed his thrusts, but continued to go as deep as he could, filling me up entirely as I began finding my rhythm. He followed my lead, gently biting into the skin, I was sure he was going to break it soon, but some part of me didn’t care all that much. ‘That’s it.’ I panted. ‘Fuck, yes.’

‘Come for me, Beth.’ Valentine commanded and I was well practised at coming undone on command. ‘Fuck, yes… yes, that’s it.’ I kept my eyes locked with his as he soon followed me over the edge, panting with me and placing the softest and lightest kisses over whatever skin he could reach. 

I watched him look over my body, his hand gently grazing the cooling skin as he once again debated something internally.

‘Stay with me.’ I said, quietly. His grey eyes shot up to mine. ‘You never stay… just stay with me this once.’

Valentine was reeling, he’d only gone to the Baron that night to finally put a stop to things between them. The last few months had been as unsatisfying for him as he knew they were for her, he’d been conflicted between giving her what she needed and admitting his growing feelings for her. He wanted to tell her the truth, but given her strong will to do what was best for London, there was every chance he would be rejected outright and never have the chance to be with her again. 

The only problem was being with her was the only time he could ever give in to what he was feeling, he wanted to find what she liked, he wanted her to come over and over again, he wanted her to feel everything, but the cost of that was exposing himself. He’d resigned to a stale version of what she needed, giving her the chance to come however she wanted, but taking so little for himself and he couldn’t stand it any longer, he needed to end things.

When he stepped into the Baron, he did so with every intention of ending their arrangement, but upon seeing her, he couldn’t resist the urge to kiss her, to take her to bed and make love to her the way she deserved. 

Every movement he made, every kiss and touch of her body was accepting and encouraged by her. Some part of his mind told him that she loved him back, that her responses, her desires for him to make her his was how she was telling him that. But another part of him was already feeling the heartbreak, the disappointing fact of how this all began. 

Beth needed to feel like she wasn’t losing control, she needed to feel anything that wasn’t the build up of pressure that her team and Crome had been piling onto her day by day. He was a simple and easy solution to that. There was no need to complicate things, for goodness sake, he'd called her 'darling' a pet name he'd only ever used in his imagination and he nearly slipped up, admitting he loved her, she saw the momentary hesitation; he was the one losing control.

‘I don’t think I should.’ He said and placed one more gentle kiss to where he’d bitten a little harder than he intended into her neck. Valentine had a distant worry that he’d left a mark, but it wasn’t the time to worry too much about that, he was still inside her and he needed to leave. 

‘Why not?’ Beth asked with such innocence.

‘Because I don’t think it’s a good idea.’

‘That’s not really an answer.’ She shot back.

Valentine needed to go before he said anything regrettable. He turned to sit on the edge of the bed, finding his clothes and began dressing again. Beth sat up and faced away from him, he could tell she was upset, but if he entertained it now, he’d never leave. She pulled a blanket around her body and Valentine stopped, holding his head in his hand, he sighed.

‘Beth, I’m sorry, I just can’t stay.’

‘Okay.’ He could see her nodding, but she couldn’t look at him.

Valentine continued getting dressed, his body aching in a way he used to love, but now it only fed the heartbreak he felt. He put his coat on and turned to say goodbye, but she was already up and changed into her oversized t-shirt she often slept in.

‘You know, I meant to say,’ Beth suddenly stopped him leaving, getting herself ready for bed, but unable to make any eye contact with him. ‘Our arrangement… I just don’t think we’re on the same page anymore and I really think it only works if we are… so, perhaps it’s best if we return to a professional relationship only.’

Valentine leaned on the door frame, he couldn't believe the pain that was radiating through his being, it made his body weak and unable to move properly. 

‘If that’s what you want.’ Valentine forced himself to say.

‘I think it’s for the best, yes.’ Beth nodded and began climbing into bed. 

Valentine eventually found his legs and left her to rest, praying that he could somehow rectify his mistakes, but he had a very strong feeling that that would never happen. He’d lost Bethany Wyndham and that was that.


	9. I'm Sorry

He wandered back through London, not really knowing how to stop the feeling that was coursing through his body. He finally made it home and saw the cabinet filled with whiskey, he poured himself a glass and focussed on the burning sensation that trickled down his throat, but it didn’t last, he needed to make it burn again. 

Valentine continued to pour glass after glass, anything to take away from what was happening in his head. He could see her beautiful body reacting to his over and over again, but all he could hear was her ending it. 

‘Dad?’ 

He heard Katherine padding through the house towards the lounge where Valentine was trying to fight off an emotional break down, but the sound of his worried daughter was the tipping point and soon he was on the floor, trying not to cry.

‘Dad, what happened?’ Katherine came into view, she must have been in bed by the time he got home, but Valentine was having a hard time trying to figure out what she was wearing, the whiskey was clouding his vision already. 

‘Nothing,’ he shook his head, finishing the glass in his hand. ‘Nothing happened.’

‘Don’t lie to me.’ She demanded. ‘Where were you? You just got up and left.’

Valentine took a breath and through some unknown force not belonging to him, he said: ‘I went to see Beth.’ 

‘Beth? You mean Bethany?’ Katherine carefully took the empty whiskey glass away from his shaking hands. ‘Is she okay?’

‘She’s perfect.’ He said, finally losing control of his words. 

‘I don’t understand,’ Katherine was half smiling, she was almost catching on to what may have happened. ‘Are these happy tears? Are you two finally getting together?’

‘No.’ Valentine whispered. ‘No, she’s made it very clear that she doesn’t want to be with me anymore.’

‘Anymore? You two were dating?’ Katherine’s excitement was only furthering his heartbreak.

‘Not exactly.’ He could feel his body heating up. ‘It wasn’t supposed to be anything… but I fell in love with her… I wasn’t supposed to.’

Katherine paused for a moment, he could see his daughter trying to understand what was happening. ‘You were sleeping with her?’ Katherine was shocked, that much was abundantly clear, but she didn’t seem to judge either her father or her friend. 

‘It was an accident,’ Valentine began crying. ‘We didn’t mean to, then it just seemed to spiral out of control, she was so stressed… she asked me to stay, but…’

Katherine didn’t say anything, it was obvious she wasn’t used to thinking of her father as anything other than a stoic force, an unbreakable man and yet here he was breaking down because he fell in love with someone.

‘Dad, did you tell her how you feel?’

‘No, I couldn’t. It wasn’t part of the arrangement.’

‘Arrangement or not, you fell for her and it sounds to me if she wanted you to stay, she might have fallen for you too.’ Katherine placed her hand over her father’s shaking ones. ‘I think you should try talking to her tomorrow, see if she feels the same way.’

‘She doesn’t.’ Valentine shook his head. ‘She loves London, I was just a distraction.’

Katherine didn’t say anything for a moment or two. ‘Okay, well, why don’t you get some rest and we can talk about it in the morning?’

They never did speak about that night, Valentine got up early to head to work and avoided Katherine entirely, he had no desire to talk to his daughter about his physical relationships with anyone. 

He tried hard to avoid Beth as well, but much to his dismay, Crome had called a meeting of the Head of the Guilds. Valentine sat quietly, they were waiting for Brewer who was already running twenty minutes late, Crome was getting agitated.

Beth was looking over blueprints, while Valentine tried to absorb himself in his own work, he glanced up every now and again when it was safe to do so and when Crome was looking in the other direction. She was stunning, it was that usual afterglow that she carried for days after they slept together, the reminder that he had allowed her to give into desire and release all tension. 

Valentine watched her adjust her scarf and all of a sudden his eyes widened at the bruised area just below her ear. Beth’s gaze snapped up to his, the gorgeous pink colour dusting her cheeks as Valentine looked back down at his papers. He’d marked her, not something he ever thought too much about, but when it meant she needed to take precautions to ensure others didn’t see it, then perhaps it wasn’t so worth it.

‘Where in God’s name is that man?’ Crome suddenly spoke, but neither Beth nor Valentine said anything, instead they just continued working. ‘You two are very quiet.’

Valentine felt a sudden need to defend himself and Beth, to keep Crome away from their relationship, whatever was left of it anyway. 

‘Brewer rarely turns up on time, I don’t know about Captain Wyndham, but I often find the time waiting on him useful to catch up with paperwork.’ Valentine barely looked up when addressing Crome, he didn’t dare make eye contact with Beth either. 

His answer satisfied the Lord Mayor marginally, Beth still remained quiet up until Brewer finally entered Crome’s office and the meeting began. They spent a long time going over London’s inventory and next target location and Beth gave a run down of London’s fuel and any repairs that needed to be made. 

Valentine did his best not to stare too much, but something about the way she was constantly adjusting her scarf had him thinking on the night before. His heart began swelling at the thought that he would never make love to her again, that she may never be treated the way she should have been treated ever again. He wanted to stand up and kiss her with all the passion he could muster, to lay her down across the table worship every part of her body without a care for the other two men in the room.

Valentine quickly looked down at his papers, anything to distract himself from his thoughts, he cleared his throat and pretended to be interested in the inventory Crome had handed him earlier in the meeting. He could feel Crome watching him intently.

‘What do you think, Mr Valentine?’ The Lord Mayor tested him. 

Valentine suddenly realised that he hadn’t taken in a word of what Beth had said and she was now looking at him expectantly. 

‘Of what?’ Valentine sat back, he tore his gaze away from her saddening expression.

‘Of Miss Wyndham’s proposal to use your archives to research new weapons systems for London.’ Crome urged and something in the back of Valentine’s mind was able to piece together most of what Beth had been speaking about.

‘I think it’s not down to me to decide what anyone does with any information provided by my Guild, my job is to simply provide it.’ Valentine tried to take a diplomatic stance on the whole thing, he wanted Beth to have what she wanted, but he didn’t want Crome to think he was doing her any favours. ‘If you decide to grant permission, I will have whatever archive information Captain Wyndham requires sent to her office.’

‘Is that what you really think?’ Crome was pushing his limits.

‘I’m not sure what you’re getting at and I’m not sure why you continue to ask me for my assessment of Captain Wyndham.’ Valentine turned in his chair to face Crome, who almost looked taken back. ‘I think she is a perfectly qualified individual for the position she holds, works well under pressure and has a desire to see London survive, not only survive, but to excel. My opinion of her every choice and action hardly seems like a valid contribution to discussion.’ Valentine was unsure of if he’d crossed a line, but it seemed that Crome was left with nothing more to say.

The meeting came to an end fairly quickly and Crome was eventually called away to deal with some internal situation and Brewer was just about falling asleep over his trading papers. Valentine collected his things and watched Beth from the corner of his eye, she was shaking slightly and he immediately wanted to ask her if she was alright, to comfort her if she wasn’t. Why didn’t he just stay the night?

‘Beth.’ Valentine noticed some of her documents had collided with his. He held them out for her to take and saw those bright emerald eyes connecting with his, he remembered every single second of the times previous when he’d look deep into her orbs and caught glimpses of her soul. That’s what it was for him, having her look him in the eyes when she came was so much more than a physical turn on, it was like he was a true part of her. It was a sudden and harsh reminder of why it had to end, Bethany Wyndham was simply too good to be a part of something like him.

‘Thank you, Mr Valentine.’ She said, sadness brimming around her eyes once again. Why was she so sad? Why didn’t he just stay the night?

‘I’ll have the information you need sent to your office this afternoon,’ he nodded. ‘Is there anything else you need from me?’

As soon as he said those words, her cheeks flushed a stunning pink and Valentine instinctively stepped forward, stopping himself and trying to make it look casual, but they both knew what he wanted to do. Brewer had made some form of coughing noise, waking up and breaking the awkwardness.

‘Thank you, but I’ll not be needing anything else from you, Mr Valentine.’ She said and turned to leave Crome’s office. She couldn’t have known how much it hurt him to hear her say that, she couldn’t have been aware of the heartache he was experiencing as a result of her rejection.

‘Informative.’ Brewer nodded, looking down at his trading routes. Valentine rolled his eyes at the aging man and left to go after Beth, he needed to at least apologise. 

‘Captain Wyndham.’ Valentine called down the corridor, he watched her come to a sudden stop and hesitate before turning to face him. ‘I’m just about to head down to my office, perhaps we could go over the specific information you need from the archives?’

He prayed that she took his hint and led him to her office so he could speak with her privately. ‘Of course.’ Beth nodded, but there was something much colder to her movements. 

It seemed to take an eternity to get to her office behind the navigation room, she walked quickly and quietly, taking very little note of him striding behind her. Valentine tried hard not to think on the times he’d walked behind her and planned what he would do to her that night, he really tried not to think on how perfect her body was pressed against his, or how much he would now miss her soft hands wrapped around him.

‘What do you really want to talk about?’ She asked snapping him out of his thoughts. They had somehow arrived at her office without him realising and he needed to organise himself quickly before she decided he wasn’t worth her time. 

Valentine shut the door completely and took a breath. ‘I just wanted to apologise for last night.’

‘What part of last night?’ Beth asked, taking her coat off to hang beside the door. The scarf came next and the bruised area was considerably worse than he thought it was. She was waiting for him to answer.

‘I never meant to make things difficult for you,’ Valentine said, knowing that nothing that came out of his mouth would be enough. ‘I should have taken more care when… I didn’t mean to leave a mark where people could see.’ Valentine saw rage burning behind her eyes, but her expression was just sad. ‘I should have stayed, like you asked me to.’

‘Why didn’t you?’ Beth suddenly said, he wasn’t prepared to give her the answer to that question. 

‘I…’ Valentine was at a loss for what he could offer in the way of excuse.

‘Are you sorry for that as well?’

‘Of course, I am.’

‘I don’t believe you.’ She snapped. Valentine felt his whole being drop. ‘You know, for months I’ve gone around thinking this thing we were doing was to relieve stress and for a while it was working, but then it got stale and old and eventually it just became another stress that I needed relief from.’

‘Beth, I’m sorry.’

‘Is that what you want to apologise for?’

Valentine could feel his own anger bubbling, but it wasn’t even directed at her, it was at himself. ‘Beth, I wanted to stay, but-‘

‘If you wanted to stay, you would have done.’

‘Why does this matter to you? You asked me to stay every night we were together and every night after I left you, I regretted saying no. I know why I regret it, but why did you want it in the first place?’

Beth was silent for a moment, he could see she was suddenly a deer in the headlights, something was being thought about internally that she didn’t want to say. 

‘Because I needed to wake up feeling like everything was okay.’ Beth’s voice cracked, the emotion was evident. ‘That was all I ever asked of you, to help me feel like I wasn’t losing control over my life. When you said no, I felt like everything we did was worth nothing, that I was back to square one… that’s why it matters.’

Valentine just watched her for a moment, he finally understood it, the reasons she loved him telling her what to do, when to come, how to come; it was because he was never really in control of those things, he spent the time learning how her body worked so that he could recognise those moments when she needed to hear the things that gave her the most pleasure. She could make it stop any time, but she chose not to, she chose to give up control instead of watching it being stripped away.

He couldn’t bear the saddening expression on her face, it was too much for him to handle. So he left.


End file.
